Scaled Quail

Scaled Quail, male

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Scaled Quail, female, Arizona, August

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Sound
4. Range
5. Habitat
6. Food
7. Reproduction
8. Other Names

A ground-dwelling bird of the southwestern desert grasslands, the Scaled Quail usually runs to escape enemies rather than flies.

Cool Facts

• The white crest gives the Scaled Quail its colloquial name of "cotton-top."

Description

• Size: 25-35 cm (10-14 in)
• Wingspan: 38 cm (15 in)
• Weight: 177-191 g (6.25-6.74 ounces)

• Medium-sized quail.
• Pale gray overall.
• Bushy white crest.
• Finely scaled pattern over neck, chest, and belly.

Sex Differences

Sexes, but male slightly bluer than female and has a clear buff throat instead of finely streaked gray one.

Immature

Similar to adult, but start out without scaling.

Sound

A high shriek, and two-noted "Pe-cos."

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Resident from northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Kansas southward through western Texas and southeastern Arizon to central Mexico.

Habitat

Desert grassland and shrubland.

Food

Seeds, leaves, and insects.

Reproduction

Condition at Hatching

Downy and able to follow mother.

Other Names

Colin écaillé (French)
Codorniz escamosa, Codorniz azul (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Schemnitz, S. D. 1994. Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata). In The Birds of North Americaa, No. 106 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists' Union.