Gambel's Quail Similar Species to, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology (2024)

FAQs

What are the characteristics of Gambel's quail? ›

Like other quail, Gambel's Quail are plump, volleyball-sized birds with short necks, small bill, and square tail. The wings are short and broad. Both sexes have a comma-shaped topknot of feathers atop their small heads, fuller in males than females.

Only California and Gambel's quail have that comma-shaped plume, and since they live in similar habitat, you have to look for small variations in plumage to tell them apart. The top of a California male's head is black, where the Gambel's is chestnut brown.

The Phasianidae are a family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular gamebirds. The family includes 185 species divided into 54 genera.

Similar SpeciesGambel's Quail

The Gambel's Quail has little range overlap with the Northern Bobwhite. Gambel's is more gray-brown overall, with a short head plume and without the bobwhite's bold black-on-white (or buff) face pattern.

Quail and chickens are close relatives (Order: Galliformes; Family: Phasianidae), sharing approximately 95% hom*ology at the gene sequence level, and of critical importance to avian immunology, quails are susceptible to most chicken diseases [91].

Partridge are somewhat larger than quail and have stronger bills and feet. Both partridge and quail have short, rounded wings and strong chest muscles, which helps them to make short, rapid bursts of flight, such as to escape predators.

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.

Bobwhite are small quail with rounded bodies, small heads, rounded wings, and short tails.

ABBREVIATION : COVI COMMON NAMES : northern bobwhite bobwhite quail bobwhite quail colin partridge Virginia partridge TAXONOMY : The currently accepted scientific name for northern bobwhite is Colinus virginianus Linnaeus.

What birds sound like a bobwhite? ›

Males have a bold black-and-white head pattern. Females have a buffy throat and eyebrow. Northern Bobwhites travel in coveys and run across the ground from the shelter of one shrubby patch to another. When they are flushed, they explode into flight with quick wingbeats and then duck into the nearest cover.

In the female, the bottom of the head is uniformly ocher or brownish-white, without a stripe, no collar, rounded dark spots on the chest. The quail differs from the corncrake and the quail in a stockier figure, a short conical beak, shorter and short-toed legs. A flying quail has no legs visible.

It turns out that its main function is to intimidate other male quail. Researchers found by shortening the topknots, they lowered a male's standing among its male competitors; artificially enhancing the length of the topknots elevated their chances of outcompeting the other males.

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.)