How to Identify aScaled Quail
Callipepla squamata · 9.8–11.8 in (25–30 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Smoky blue-gray with dark-edged feathers giving a scaled look, and a shaggy white-tipped crest. Sexes look alike.
Female
Like the male but with a buffier throat and a smaller crest.
Male photo: Dominic Sherony / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Second photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
Field marks
- Scaled or fish-scale pattern across the chest and back
- White cotton-ball tip to the crest
- Very pale gray overall
- Runs rather than flies, often in the open
Similar species
What it sounds like
A nasal, two-note "pe-cos" call used to keep the covey together.
Behaviour that gives it away
Prefers to outrun danger on foot and will sprint long distances before ever considering flight.
Habitat & range
Desert grassland, mesquite scrub and arid rangeland of the Southwest.
When you'll see it
Present all year in southwestern and central North America.
What it eats
Seeds, insects and green shoots.
Did you know?
Its white-tipped crest earned it the nickname cottontop, and coveys can number over fifty birds in a good year.
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