From Opus

Male
Photo by Dave Hawkins
Stateline Road, Portal, Arizona, USA

Callipepla gambelii

[edit] Identification

10-11 1/2" (25-29 cm)
A stocky, mainly gray quail with a curved black head plume.

Male has bold black face and throat, chestnut crown, rusty sides with diagonal stripes, and unscaled buff-white belly with black patch in center.

[edit] Distribution

Resident in south-western deserts from California east to Texas. Introduced in Idaho and western New Mexico.

Female
Photo by Gary Clark
Gilbert Ray Campground, near Tucson, Arizona, USA

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• C. g. gambelii:

• Utah and Nevada to Colorado, Mohave deserts and north-eastern Baja

• C. g. sana:

• Arid scrub of western Colorado

• C. g. ignoscens:

• Southern New Mexico and extreme western Texas

• C. g. pembertoni:

• Isla Tiburón (Gulf of California)

• C. g. fulvipectus:

• South-eastern Arizona and south-western New Mexico to north-western Mexico (southern Sonora)

• C. g. stephensi:

• Western Mexico (southern Sonora adjacent to Sinaloa border)

• C. g. friedmanni:

• Western Mexico (coastal Sonora from Río Fuerte to Río Culiacán)

[edit] Habitat

Desert thickets; arid country.

[edit] Behaviour

These desert-dwelling quail are attracted to water and gather in large numbers, often representing several coveys, to drink at stock tanks maintained for cattle.

[edit] Breeding

The 10-20 buff-colored eggs, spotted with brown, are laid in a depression lined with grass and twigs at base of tall shrub or mesquite.

[edit] Vocalisation

A ringing puk-kwaw-cah, with second syllable highest in pitch.
The ringing call of the male, heard even in the heat of day, is one of the characteristic sounds of the desert Southwest.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

• List of references

[edit] External Links