Coturnix coturnix

These buffy gamebirds’ distinctive “wet my lips” call make them easy to locate during the African summer but far more difficult to see and photograph. 

We first recorded this intra-African migrant in September 2011 while on a game drive at El Kerama Eco Lodge, Kenya. I had to wait until January 2013 before seeing and photographing them in southern Africa. On this occasion we were birding the farmlands around Devon, a very reliable spot for this species as well as harlequain quail.