The Chestnut Wood-Quail lives in the understory of humid montane forest in Colombia. Its chestnut and black mottling is set off by a white throat and red forehead patch.
Its plumage is mottled chestnut and black, with a white chin and throat, reddish legs, and a red patch on the forehead.
Chestnut Wood-quails use the forest differently by day and night. During daylight they scratch through fallen leaves for fruit, seeds and small invertebrates. Towards dusk they climb into trees and line up on branches with their companions.
At Colombia’s Otún Quimbaya sanctuary, observations over 14 months beginning in November 2003 found birds roosting in a row 6–10 m above ground. Their order was maintained on consecutive nights. To arrange themselves, birds passed over the backs of companions between them and their places.
One closely followed group used at least four roost trees, always returning to the same branch within each tree. At dawn, its members flew to the same spot on the ground and preened before beginning to forage together.
IUCN Red List (BirdLife listing) · Least Concern · Global
BirdLife lists Least Concern globally. The Otún Quimbaya observations were made in mature and late secondary forest. Leaf litter supplied foraging sites and elevated branches provided night roosts. Retaining both the forest floor and roost trees preserves features used locally.