Mountain Quail

About the Mountain Quail

The mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus) is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. This species is the only one in the genus Oreortyx, which is sometimes included in Callipepla. This is not appropriate, however, as the mountain quail's ancestors diverged from other New World quails earlier than the bobwhites, no later than 6 mya.

The bird's average length is 26–28 cm (10–11 in), with a wingspan of 35–40 cm (14–16 in). They have relatively short, rounded wings and long, featherless legs. These birds are easily recognized by their topknots, which are shorter in the female and change color with the seasons and geographic location of particular populations. They have a brown face, gray breast, brown back and primaries, and heavily white barred underside. Females display greater brown coloring on their dorsal side, a paler red on their undersides, and wider white barring on the flank than their male counterparts. Mountain quails lose the multi-color primary coverts on their wings as they age, and by 15 months old will only have solid-colored coverts.

There are five recognized subspecies: It inhabits mountainous... Wikipedia →