• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Range map
• Resources

Taxonomic note
Cyrtonyx montezumae and C. sallei (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as C. montezumae following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), but prior to that had been treated as two species in Collar and Andrew (1988).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Near Threatened	A2cd+3cd+4cd
2016	Near Threatened	A2c+3c+4c
2014	Near Threatened	A2c+3c+4c
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Near Threatened

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	120,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	2014-2024
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	1.9 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size is unknown given recent taxonomic splits.

Trend justification: There is no trend data available, but the species is thought to be undergoing a moderately rapid population decline (approaching but unlikely exceeding 30% over 10 years) owing to on-going habitat degradation caused by unfavourable land management such as over-grazing by livestock. Forest loss throughout its range is estimated at ~1% per decade (Tracewski et al. 2016) and hunting is also thought to be a noteworthy pressure.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Mexico	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Altitude	1060 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 3100 m

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Spot-breasted Quail Cyrtonyx sallei. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/spot-breasted-quail-cyrtonyx-sallei on 08/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 08/01/2025.