California Quail

Description:

Round, gray bird with black, forward arching top feather. The face is black with a white outline. The top of the head is brown. The breast and back are gray. The underside fades to brown. There are white markings on the neck, back and wings. This is a male as seen from the large, black top feather and the bright, gray and black markings. The females are browner with a smaller and brown top feather.

Habitat:

Chaparral. They fly in to trees to eat, call and avoid predators but are mostly seen on the ground.

Notes:

This quail is the state bird of California. It's ground-dwelling and is very sociable, usually seen in small covey's. There are seven recognized subspecies of C. californica.