The Black-eared Wood Quail is an elusive bird of humid forests from Honduras to eastern Panama.
Its total length is about 23–25 cm, converted approximately from the source's 9–10 inches.
Black-eared Wood-quails live in Central American forests. At Nicaragua’s Saslaya National Park they were documented by sightings and recordings and listed as permanent residents. Regional forms are also represented by preserved museum specimens.
A 2022 DNA study used one subspecies collected in Olancho, Honduras, in 1963 and another from Bocas del Toro, Panama, in 1966. Comparisons with two Rufous-fronted Wood-quail subspecies recovered a relationship pattern matching their south-to-north geographic arrangement.
The analyses did not separate Black-eared and Rufous-fronted Wood-quails into two independently exclusive groups. The authors interpreted this as support for treating them as one species. Their result revealed evolutionary connections spanning the two currently used species names.
IUCN Red List (BirdLife listing) · Near Threatened · Global
BirdLife lists Near Threatened globally. Sightings and recordings document the species at Saslaya National Park in Nicaragua. Retaining occupied forests and repeatedly checking the same localities can improve information on changes in distribution and numbers, supporting conservation of regional populations.