General

Gambel's Quail: Medium-sized quail with gray upperparts and breast, scaled gray nape, black patch on center of abdomen, black head plume shaped like a teardrop, white bordered black face, cinnamon-brown crown, and buff underparts with flanks streaked with dark chestnut-brown and white. Female lacks black on head, face and breast; head and throat are gray with dark streaks; has smaller plume and shows a weakly scaled pattern on nape. Juvenile is smaller with tan and gray mottling and streaking.

Range and Habitat

Gambel's Quail: Resident in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Mexico, extending into southern New Mexico, up and down the Rio Grande, up the Colorado River drainage into Utah’s canyon country, and west to California and southern Nevada. Preferred habitats include brushy and thorny vegetation of southwestern deserts.

Breeding and Nesting

Gambel's Quail: Breeding season ranges from April to July. Nine to fourteen brown spotted buff eggs are laid in a nest site on the ground selected by the female. Preferably the nest is hidden under a shrub, rock, or protected site. Small twigs, grass stems, leaves and feathers line the nest. Incubation ranges from 21 to 24 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Gambel's Quail: Their diet includes seeds of forbs, grasses, shrubs, trees, and cacti, herbaceous material composed of grass blades, and leaves of forbs. They also eat insects, spiders and small reptiles. They generally forage on the ground in any brushy or semi-brushy locale that provides food and nearby cover. Most feeding occurs twice a day, at dawn and in the late afternoon until sunset.

Vocalization

Gambel's Quail: Makes low grunting sounds similar to a piglet. Also a melancholy "quoit" or "oit" and loud, grating four-note "chi-CA-go-go."

Similar Species

Gambel's Quail: California Quail lacks black patch on abdomen, has dark brown crown black, prominently speckled white nape and sides of neck, and dull brown flanks.