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Cool Facts |
Photo
taken from:
The
Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America by
David Allen Sibley
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- The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans
in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces
of adults.
- Several California Quail broods may mix after hatching, and all the
parents care for the young. Adults that raise young this way tend to
live longer than adults that do not.
- Pairs of California Quail call antiphonally, meaning that the male
and female alternate calls, fit them into a tightly orchestrated
pattern.
- The California Quail’s head plume, or topknot, looks like a single
feather, but it is actually a cluster of six overlapping feathers.
- As an adaptation to living in arid environments, California Quails
can often get by without water, acquiring their moisture from insects
and succulent vegetation. During periods of sustained heat they must
find drinking water to survive.
- The California Quail is California’s state bird and has had roles in
several Walt Disney movies, including "Bambi."
- California Quail nests can contain as many as 28 eggs. These large
clutches may be the result of females laying eggs in nests other than
their own, a behavior known as "egg-dumping."
- California Quail are pretty as well as popular with game hunters.
They’ve been introduced to many other parts of the world, including
Hawaii, Europe, and New Zealand.
- The oldest known California Quail was 6 years 11 months old.
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Description |
Size & Shape
California Quail are plump, short-necked game birds with a small head
and bill. They fly on short, very broad wings. The tail is fairly long
and square. Both sexes have a comma-shaped topknot of feathers
projecting forward from the forehead, longer in males than females. |
Adult males are rich gray and brown, with a black face outlined with
bold white stripes. Females are a plainer brown and lack the facial
markings. Both sexes have a pattern of white, creamy, and chestnut
scales on the belly. Young birds look like females but have a shorter
topknot.
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Range Map |
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Taxonomic Hierarchy |
© 2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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Kingdom: |
Animalia |
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Phylum: |
Chordata |
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Subphylum: |
Vertebrata |
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Class: |
Aves |
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Order: |
Galliformes |
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Family: |
Odontophoridae |
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Genus: |
Callipepla |
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Species: |
Callipepla californica |
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Subspecies: |
- Callipepla californica achrustera
- Callipepla californica brunnescens
- Callipepla californica californica
- Callipepla californica canfieldae
- Callipepla californica catalinensis
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Sound |
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The California Quail’s main call consists of three syllables
and sounds like the bird is saying Chi-ca-go. It’s
usually given when an individual is separated from its group
or mate, as well as while a covey is on the move or
preparing to move. The call lasts about 1 second and can be
given 10 times or more in succession. California Quail use a
repeated pit-pit alarm call to alert covey members
of nearby danger. Mated California Quail pairs call
antiphonally: the male makes short, shrill notes in time
with the female’s Chi-ca-go call.
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Identification and
Information
See
Anatomy
of a Bird
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Body |
- Length
Range: 25 cm (10 in)
- Weight:
232 g (8.2 oz)
- Size:
Medium (9 - 16 in)
- Color
Primary: Gray
- Underparts:
Gray breast, red-brown and buff scaled
belly.
- Upperparts:
Gray and brown.
- Back
Pattern: Solid
- Belly
Pattern: Scaled or Scalloped
- Breast
Pattern: Solid
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Head |
- Bill Shape:
Curved (up or down)
- Eye Color:
Dark brown.
- Head
Pattern: Striped, Crested or plumed,
Unique pattern
- Crown Color:
Red-brown
- Forehead
Color: Pale Brown
- Nape Color:
Black with white spots.
- Throat
Color: Black with white border.
- Cere color:
No Data
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Flight |
- Flight
Pattern: Explosive burst of speed over
short distances.
- Wingspan
Range: 36-41 cm (14-16 in)
- Wing Shape:
Rounded-Wings
- Tail Shape:
Squared Tail
- Tail
Pattern: Solid
- Upper Tail:
Gray
- Under Tail:
Pale Gray
- Leg Color:
Gray
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Breeding |
- Breeding Location:
Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Mountains,
Scrub vegetation areas
- Breeding Type:
Polygamous
- Breeding Population:
- Egg Color:
Buff to yellow with large blotches of brown
gray
- Number of Eggs:
12 - 16
- Incubation Days:
18 - 23
- Egg Incubator:
Female
- Nest Material:
Lined with grasses or leaves.
- Migration:
Nonmigratory
- Condition at Hatching: Covered in
brownish down. Can walk, follow parents, and
peck at the ground immediately after
hatching.
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Other Names |
Similar Species |
- Colin de Californie (French)
- Codorniz californiana (Spanish)
- California Partridge, Valley Quail, Crested Quail,
Topknot Quail (English)
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- Gambel's Quail is more contrastingly patterned, lacks the scaled
underparts of California Quail, and occurs farther east.
- Mountain Quail has a shorter tail, a long, straight head plume, and
a bold flank pattern.
- The Gray Partridge has no head plume and rusty-striped flanks, with
a rusty face.
- Chukar also lacks a head plume and has a black-outlined white face.
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Conservation Status |
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Not threatened or endangered in any part of its range.
California Quail are popular game birds, and between 800,000
and 1.2 million are shot each year in California alone. This
level of hunting pressure does not seem to be hurting
California Quail populations. |
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Habitat |
Sources used to
Construct this Page: |
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California Quail are characteristic birds of coastal sagebrush,
chaparral, foothills, and high desert of California and the
northwestern United States. They’re also frequent visitors to
backyards, especially if there’s birdseed available at ground level. |
- Calkins, Jennifer D., Julie C. Hagelin and Dale F.
Lott. 1999. California Quail (Callipepla californica),
The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.).
Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the
Birds of North America Online:
- Dunne, Pete. 2006. Pete Dunne’s essential field
guide companion. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
- Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988.
The birder’s handbook. Simon & Schuster Inc., New York.
- Patuxent Wildlife Research Center longevity records:
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Food |
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Mainly a seedeater; also eats leaves, flowers, catkins, grain,
manzanita and poison oak berries, acorns, and invertebrates such as
caterpillars, beetles, mites, millipedes, and snails. Diet is
typically about 70 percent vegetarian. |
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Behavior |
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You’ll normally see California Quail walking, running, or scratching
at the ground and leaf litter for seeds and other food. They
occasionally forage in trees. California Quail generally forage in
open areas but stay close to cover. When running, they can move
amazingly quickly despite their short legs. If pressed by a predator
they will burst into flight with rapid, whirring wingbeats.
California Quail form flocks known as coveys in fall and winter;
these usually contain family groups and can number more than 75
individuals. They roost in trees and feed mainly in the morning and
evening, spending most of the day in shrubs that shade them from the
sun and protect them from predators. |
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