RANGE
Although now a permanent resident, the California quail is not a Utah native. The bird was introduced from the West Coast beginning about 1869 as a game species and today is seen most often in northern sections of the state. Gambel's quail can be found in southern Utah.
HABITAT
Prefers mixed woodlands and open bushy areas.
DESCRIPTION
Engagingly plump, short-tailed birds. Adult males differ in appearance from females. The male has a bouncy black, forward-tilting, teardrop-shaped plume or crest above a pale buff forehead and a dark brown cap; it has a black face with a white border, a dark blue-gray chest, brown upperwings, a buff belly with darker scalelike markings and brown flanks with white streaks. The female is slightly less decorated, with a short, curved, dark-brown crest; gray or brown head, chest, back and upperwings; chestnut flanks with white streaks and a pale belly with darker scalelike markings. Immature birds are similar to females.
DIET AND HABITS
Ground-nesting, non-migratory birds, quail feed almost entirely upon seeds and green plant matter, though they eat some insects. They prefer to run as much as fly short distances are quite social, partly for defensive reasons (hence their warning chirps) and move about in small groups called coveys.
OF INTEREST
The American quail is not related to the European quail.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and "Utah Birds," by William H. Behle and Michael L. Perry