California Quail

Male: (shown below) Overall grey in color. Dark brown top of head (like a cap), white streeak above eyes and along neck line, black face and throat, pale spot on forehead. Scaled neck back and belly. Brown and white under wings, grey chest, grey wings and tail. Males have a single long black plum protruding from their forehead.

Female: (shown below) Overall grey in color. Brownish head, face, and throat. Scaled neck back and belly. Brown and white under wings, grey chest, grey wings and tail. Females have a single short black plum protruding from the top of their heads.

A very distinct characteristic is that they do not often fly. They would rather "run" to where they are going.

(BEFORE I FOUND ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BABY QUAIL THRIVING ON THEIR OWN):

On July 13th, 2006 I saw this group of CA Quail running across a driveway across the street from my home in Groveland, CA. About mid-way an audlt Western Scrub Jay dove down and killed and ate one of these babies. I ran over to help the Quail safly cross the driveway. The babies were all scattered around so I tried to herd them in the same direction to get them back together in their family group. VERY UNSUCCESFUL, the father, who was watching out for the young one's, flew to a nearby tree. A few of the babies followed while the remaning ran around wildly. Eventually I got them all herded under some brush together hoping that the adult would come for them. About 5 mins later I heard some screeching noises around the brush (the babies were in) and realized my 3 CATS were over there. They had caught a single lone baby CA Quail. I rescued it and secured it into a box. After some lenghthy research (and locking the cats in the house) I discovered the baby I saved would be ok if I let him/her go around the same area his family was. I let him/her go under the brush where I had hearded the other little one's.

Ok summary: I saw 13 originally...a scrub jay got 1 and a few weeks later I counted 12. So the one I rescued was safe. Unfortunatly a nother week later I only counted 8 little one's. Interesting fact: ONLY 50% of baby quail survive their first 3 months of life.

Adult leading about 13 babies. You can not see all 13 in the photo but I counted them with binoculars. These babies are about 10-15 days old (photo taken on July 13th, 2006). After 10 days old baby CA Quail can fly. Directly after birth they are able to sustain themselves without adult supervision.

Male and female adult are in the rear of the group here. Five weeks later (from above photo) these babies are about 7 weeks old (photo taken on August 20th, 2006).