Quails

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Quails

          Gambel's                   Masked Bobwhite

A Quail is a small bird with a rounded body and short tail, that spends a lot of time on the ground and is often shot for sport and food. It is smaller than most fowl like Chickens and most Partridges or the Pheasants which are the Largest.

Masked Bobwhite

Masked Bobwhite Quail 

(Colinusvirginianus)

Photographed at Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, Arizona       Apr 2009

One of Arizona’s most famous birds, the masked bobwhite quail was saved from extinction by the Endangered Species Act.

The known range of the masked bobwhite in the United States includes the Altar and Santa Cruz valleys in Arizona. The masked bobwhite was first identified in 1884 and was recognized as highly endangered just a short while later.

In 1985, Arizona’s Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, containing approximately 118,000 acres of savannah grassland in the Altar Valley, was created for the masked bobwhite. It contains the only population of the birds in the United States.

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Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail

  (Callipeplagambelii)

Photographed in the wild, Phoenix, Arizona   Apr 2009

The name "Gambel’s" is in recognition of William Gambel (1821-1849), an American naturalist who died on an ill-fated winter crossing of the Sierra Nevada. Gambel’s quail inhabit brushy and thorny vegetation of south-western deserts. Also known as the Arizona, top-knot or desert quail, they are found in dry areas of the south-western United States and parts of Mexico. They have also been introduced to Hawaii.

Female           Male

Gambel's Quail form large groups or coveys as large as 200 during the winter in Arizona. During the spring, these large flocks break up and the males begin to draw females to their chosen territory. Fights between rival males can become quite vicious while they try to draw mates into their territories

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