Very excited to find a male juvenile Plains Wanderer. Went out to Terrick Terrick NP with a local resident involved in the monitoring. Heard a couple calling, which was exciting enough, and practically by pure chance came across this little guy. They're a lot smaller than you'd think. Was hard to get a good picture in the dark without a good camera.
Hey Liam, the experts we had with us were pretty certain that this was a juvenile male, less than a year old. The young wanderers don't have a particularly yellow bill. My blurry photo doesn't really help :/
Hi Darcy, I agree with Liam, I'm quite confident this is a Little Buttonquail as opposed to a Plains-Wanderer. The greyish bill colour and chunkier bill structure is a very prominent feature (compared to finer, yellow bill in PW) and also a distinct lack of any streaking on the buffy chest/breast, where streaking would be present in all ages of Plains-wanderers. Even in young Plains-wanderers the bill is a pale creamy colour, as opposed to grey in this bird. The pale streaks on the crown and back also fit better with Little Buttonquail, rather than with the scalloping pattern on PW's. Also, the horizontal stance of the bird, low to the ground, suits Little Buttonquail over Plains-wanderer, which typically have a more upright stance, with longer legs. Hope you understand, and sorry if this contradicts your guides' opinions. Even though it isn't a Plains-Wanderer, Little Buttonquail are still interesting and uncommon birds, and are often quite nomadic in their widespread range.