The California quail is the quail of my youth growing up in the foothills of Salt Lake City. It is also the quail of my mid-life and now old-age on the edge of Live Oak Canyon in Redlands, California. I know its unmistakable call, the blast of its wings as it explodes from nearby bushes and the beeline of its small feet as it scurries into nearby bushes. What is amazing to me, as I look back on it, is that I have only two observations of California quail on iNaturalist, compared to 30 observations of Gambel's quail, and I do not live in the vicinity of Gambel's quail or see them anywhere near as often. I never see California quail when they are not exploding from cover or scrambling pell-mell, so photographs are difficult to come by.
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| These first three photos were taken in Live Oak Canyon on October 25, 2020. Not great photos by any stretch of the imagination. |
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| This and the following photos were taken on March 30, 2025 when I was with Judy and Sam at the UC Santa Cruz Botanical Garden. It was a rainy day and I was sitting on a bench waiting for hummingbirds to visit a particular tree. I just happened to catch this hefty female in some periods where she was not scampering. |
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| Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. |
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| Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. |
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| Range map from Birds of the World. This is the first time I've looked at a range map for them and I am surprised by how sparsely located they are in Utah. I saw lots of them growing up and just assumed they were everywhere. |
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