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Gambel's Quail

Callipepla gambeliiOrder: GALLIFORMESFamily: Quails (Odontophoridae)
Gambel's Quail Male Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: Curved (up or down)
  • Eye color: Brown iris
  • Head Pattern: Crested or plumed, Special (unique patterns or features)
  • Crown color: Brown
  • Forehead color: Black
  • Nape Color: Gray
  • Throat color: Gray
  • Cere color:
Splitbar
Gambel's Quail Male Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 28 cm (11 in)
  • Weight: 170 g (6 oz)
  • Size: Size 3. Medium (9 - 16 in)
  • Color: White, Brown, Gray, Rufous or Rust
  • Underparts: Gray, buff and black with red-brown sides.
  • Upperparts: Gray
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Striped or streaked
  • Breast Pattern: Striped or streaked
Gambel's Quail Male Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Flies with explosive burst of speed over short distances., Alternates series of rapid stiff wing beats with short glides.
  • Wingspan Range: 36-66 cm (14-26 in)
  • Wing Shape: Rounded-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Squared Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Gray
  • Under Tail: Pale Gray
  • Leg color: Tan
.

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Family Pheasants, Quails and Partridges (Odontophoridae)_blue
Species Callipepla gambelii
Length11 Inches
Wingspan15 Inches

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail: Medium quail, gray upperparts and breast, scaled gray nape, black patch on center of abdomen, black head plume, white-bordered black face, cinnamon-brown crown, buff underparts, flanks streaked dark chestnut-brown and white. Alternates several stiff wing beats with short glides.

● Song: "quoit", "oit", "chi-CA-go-go"

● Foraging & Feeding: Gambel's Quail: Eats mainly seeds and forbs, but also insects, spiders, and small reptiles; forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Gambel's Quail: Nine to fourteen brown spotted, buff eggs are laid in a ground scrape lined with grass, sticks, and feathers. Incubation ranges from 21 to 24 days and is carried out by the female.

● 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.

Flight Pattern

Flies with explosive burst of speed over short distances., Alternates series of rapid stiff wing beats with short glides.
Gambel's Quail Male Body Illustration
● Range & 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.
BreedingMonogamous, Gregarious.
Population
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight6 Ounces