California Quail
The California Quail, Callipepla californica, also known as the California Valley Quail or Valley Quail, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. It is the state bird of California.
These birds have a curving crest or plume, made of six feathers, that droops forward: black in males and brown for females; the flanks are brown with white streaks. Males have a dark brown cap and a black face with a brown back, a grey-blue chest and a light brown belly. Females and immature birds are mainly grey-brown with a light-colored belly. Their closest relative is Gambel's Quail which has a more southerly distribution and, a longer crest (2.5 inches), a brighter head and a scalier appearance. The two species separated about 1-2 million years ago, during the Late Pliocene or Early Pleistocene.
These birds have a curving crest or plume, made of six feathers, that droops forward: black in males and brown for females; the flanks are brown with white streaks. Males have a dark brown cap and a black face with a brown back, a grey-blue chest and a light brown belly. Females and immature birds are mainly grey-brown with a light-colored belly. Their closest relative is Gambel's Quail which has a more southerly distribution and, a longer crest (2.5 inches), a brighter head and a scalier appearance. The two species separated about 1-2 million years ago, during the Late Pliocene or Early Pleistocene.
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| California Quail |
image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Yathin_sk
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| California Quail |
image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidm/
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are seven recognized subspecies:
- C. c. achrustera (Peters, 1923) - San Lucas California Quail - southern Baja California
- C. c. brunnescens (Ridgway, 1884) - extreme northern costal California to southern Santa Cruz County
- C. c. californica (Shaw, 1798) - northern Oregon and western Nevada to southern California and Coronado Islands
- C. c. canfieldae (Van Rossem, 1939) - Owen Valley Quail - Owens Valley of east central California
- C. c. catalinensis (Grinnell, 1906) - Santa Catalina Quail - Santa Catalina Island (off southern California)
- C. c. orecta (Oberholser, 1932) - Warner Valley Quail - Warner Valley in Oregon to extreme northern California
- C. c. plumbea (Grinnell, 1926) - San Quintin California Quail - San Diego County to southern Baja California
