Gambel's Quail Fact Sheet (2024)

FAQs

What are some interesting facts about Gambel's quail? ›

Gambel's Quail are gregarious birds of the desert Southwest, where coveys gather along brushy washes and cactus-studded arroyos to feed. Males and females both sport a bobbing black topknot of feathers. The male's prominent black belly patch distinguishes it from the similar California Quail.

Young are able to move as soon as they are hatched out. The chicks learn how to forage and find food, observing their parents. Reproductive maturity is reached at 1-year-old with male quail, becoming mature a few weeks earlier than females.

The Sonoran desert is home to this distinctive bird. Gambel's Quail is often abundant near desert streams and waterholes, with coveys walking to the water in the morning and evening, giving a variety of clucking and crowing notes.

Small twigs, grass stems, leaves and feathers line the nest. Average life expectancy for a wild quail is 1.5 years although on occasion they may live for up to four years. Mature birds average eleven inches long and weigh from 5.1 to 6.5 ounces (160 to 200 grams.)

Gambel's Quail are considered socially monogamous, but some females desert a mate and her brood to take a new mate and lay another clutch, leaving her original partner to raise the chicks on his own.

Gambel's quail have a large black spot below a buff stripe on their lower abdomen where California quail have rich brassy and copper colored feathers. Both California and Gambel's male quail have white brow and "jaw" stripes against a black face.

Accipiters are considered some of the most efficient predators that quail face, with Cooper's hawks being touted as “the outstanding natural enemy of the bobwhite” (Stoddard 1931). Other raptors known to take grown bobwhites include various broad–winged hawks, a.k.a. Buteos (Buteo spp).

On average a quail will lay about one egg per day at peak production. Egg production will begin to slow down around the age of 2-3 years. Quail require about 14 hours of daylight in order to lay eggs. Their egg production can be extended by providing a light source during times of the year with shorter daylight hours.

Ninety percent of the Gambel's Quail diet comes from plants. Various types of seeds and leaves are eaten throughout the year. During certain times of year fruits and berries from cacti are eaten. A few insects are eaten during the nesting season in spring and early summer.

Behavior: Gambel s Quail are the most arid-adapted quail. During the summer the quail are active early mornings and late afternoons when temperatures are not extreme. They avoid heat stress by resting in the shade during the hottest part of the day. Quail must either drink water daily or obtain it from their food.

Can you raise Gambel quail? ›

A: California is home to three native species of quail: mountain, California and Gambel's quail. In order to keep these species and others as domesticated game birds, a Domestic Game Breeder's license is generally required, per Fish and Game Code, section 3200(opens in new tab).

They forage along the ground's vegetation in the early morning and late afternoon hours, scratching for food under the plentiful cacti and shrubs of the Southwest. They especially love to eat the fruit of cacti. The flight of a covey of Gambel's quails is brief but powerful.

Gambel's Quails walk or run along the ground in groups called coveys that can include a dozen or more birds.

Predators of Gambel's include hawks and bobcats, while nest predation from skunks, coyotes, snakes and ground squirrels also lowers populations. More studies on this quail species are needed for a better understanding of their population dynamics and mortality factors in Texas.

Quail Facts

There are 22 different bobwhite quail subspecies in 38 states in the US and also in Mexico. The males of the species vary much more than the females. The purpose of the well know call, “Bob, Bob White”, of the male quail is to attract a mate and to warn off other males from his territory.

It inhabits the desert regions of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Sonora; also New Mexico-border Chihuahua and the Colorado River region of Baja California. Gambel's quail is named in honor of William Gambel, a 19th-century naturalist and explorer of the Southwestern United States.

The Himalayan quail (Ophrysia superciliosa) or mountain quail, is a medium-sized quail belonging to the pheasant family. It was last reported in 1876 and is feared extinct. This species was known from only 2 locations (and 12 specimens) in the western Himalayas in Uttarakhand, north-west India.