by April Starr

Created on: January 15, 2008   Last Updated: January 16, 2008

Gamble's Quail, also known as Gamble Quail were named after William Gamble. They live in the deserts of Arizona, California, Utah, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico and northern Mexico. The males are grey with rust colored feathers on their wings and the top of their head which is edged in white. Their stomach's are a dull yellow with a large black spot of feathers on their underbelly. The females are smaller and their coloring, although similar, is not as bright. They both have top-knots or plumes of a single feather. The plume of a male is larger than that of a female.

Although they are capable fliers, Gamble's Quail spend most of their time on the ground. They live in groups called coveys. Coveys may be small consisting of four to six adult birds. However, they may have numbers up to two hundred birds. Males will fight for both territory and for females.

Quail build their nests on the ground, under thick vegetation. They do not use twigs or grasses, they just hollow out a nest in the dirt. The indentation prevents the eggs from rolling around. The female lays large clutches usually consisting of about 12 to 18 eggs. The eggs are off white with brown speckles. While the females do the incubating the males stay around and help raise the chicks once they are hatched. The babies resemble chickens in that they are born with down, unlike many other birds which are born with no feathers whatsoever. Also like chickens, baby quail are up on their feet the first day they are hatched. I have noticed that within an hour after the clutch has fully hatched the parent birds have them on the move. They do not return to the nest. It is quite a treat to see these little chicks, no bigger than your thumb, running along after mom. One parent usually leads the way while the other follows behind the brood.

The mortality rate of the chicks is high. At the beginning of hatching season it is common to see large families but within days their numbers dwindle. The chicks grow fast and are able to fly at about three weeks. By the time they are nearly grown the family unit is often down to the parent birds with just one or two chicks left.

Quail are very vocal birds. While a covey is scratching on the ground for seeds there is usually one quail, a sentry of sorts, perched on top of a fence post or small bush keeping watch out for predators. The sentry is most often a male. When danger is seen he will call out to the covey to warn them. At dusk when the birds start to roost various calls can be heard from many of the covey members. They often roost on the branches of shrubs. We have thick vines that are excellent for roosting.

Quail don't fly very high off the ground. They normally don't fly any higher than what they have to in order to get out of the way of danger or to land on a branch at dusk. Their wings are short and broad and make noise as they fly. When they are first roosting at dusk they are easily startled. The whole covey can take to flight at one time making a vary loud noise. Then it is an unsuspecting human that is startled by the noise of many wings. I know, because I have been that human a time or two!

Quail are game birds. Bird dogs are often used to flush out a covey from the brush. Often times hunters will raise quail in order to train their dogs. Other people raise them because it is legal to keep them and they make a nice addition to an aviary.

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