The California quail is a prized game bird and it is found along the coastal western U.S. It is also called the Valley Quail.
This quail lives in a flock of 20-100 birds (called a covey) until mating season when they pair off. Like most quail species they spend time on the ground but easily scare into flight.
It is short and plump. The male has a gray chest with a brown back and wings. Its black throat has white stripes and it has a brown cap on its head. A white stripe crosses its eyes and forehead and it has comma shaped crown feathers that are larger than the females’. The female has a grayish brown head and back with a speckled chest.
These birds prefer grasslands with lots of brush. They mostly eat seeds with an occasional insect or plant bud. They feed in flocks.
The quail pair are monogomous and can raise 1-2 broods a season. The female lays 1-28 eggs in a hollow on the ground. The eggs are incubated for 3 weeks, both parents sharing this duty. After the eggs hatch the chicks leave the nest immediately. They try flying after they are 10 days old. Once they can fly they roost in the trees with the flock.
The California quail became the state bird in 1931.
Here is a printable color sheet .
I must preface this story with a reason for my title. Hopefully you can tell by my blog that I am pro birds and pro birdhouses!! Hopefully what I am about to ask/say next will not send you into a bout of heart palpitations. Is a bird’s life ever more valuable than a human? Well most of you would probably say a human’s life is more valuable but can we ever overprotect? I am not an ethicist or a philosopher just a regular person who like birds and loves people!!!
Here is a story from my sister who is in New Zealand right now. I have copy and pasted exactly what she wrote to me in our last correspondance.”When I went ice climbing in Franz Josef there was an alpine parrot, Kea, that nearly killed us. They are really intelligent, mean, but still they are protected. I watched as one of these birds ripped open a guides backpack with his razor sharp beak. There were three of them that tried to get to our guides pack while we were climbing. It was a really nerve racking situation when the birds were trying to get to the ropes that secure you from falling. So we tried to chunck ice balls at them so we could escape this fate….Needless to say we were victorious. No keas were harmed in the process.”I think the ice balls idea was great and one I know PETA would support =) I just have to say for the record if the ice balls had not detered them could I have been arrested if I chose to blow one up with something a little stronger. What if it had attacked my children(who hopefully as a wise mother I hadn’t taken to the top of a cliff =)) would the law make an exception for the valuableness of a humen life.
Here are some Kea facts: As the world’s only Alpine parrot, it is known as the “feathered wolf” because it has killed sheep and other small farm animals. The keas were then killed for many years by hunters hired by local farmers who were tired of their livestock perishing at the cunning of a kea-this is why they are now protected. Kea’s are super smart and get bored very easily, hence their “weird” behavior of stealing parts off of cars or ripping open backpacks.(Someone should teach the keas to knit or something). Males and females are green with some red feathers around their neck. They nest on the ground usually with 2-4 eggs per season. After 29 days the babies hatch and the males help feed them after they are a month old. Besides farm animals Keas also eat normal bird food like leaves, insects and bugs =) Because the Keas live in such a harsh climate they need the extra fat that the animal remains provide. (Its one thing to picture bird-of-prey eating a typical fleshy meal but another to picture a cute green parrot ripping open a lamb-hmmm)
So despite the propensity for destruction people swear that they are a fun loving bird. I don’t think I will be bringing one into my home anytime soon!!
