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Mountain quail
Male
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Odontophoridae
Genus:	Oreortyx Baird, 1858
Species:	O. pictus
Binomial name
Oreortyx pictus (Douglas, 1829)

Themountain quail (Oreortyx pictus) is a small ground-dwellingbird in theNew World quailfamily. Thisspecies is theonly one in thegenusOreortyx, which is sometimes included inCallipepla. This is not appropriate, however, as the mountain quail's ancestors diverged from other New World quails earlier than thebobwhites, no later than 6mya.^[2]

The bird's average length is 26–28 cm (10–11 in), with awingspan 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 andprimaries, 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 recognizedsubspecies:^[3]

Image	Subspecies	Distribution
	O. p. pictus –(Douglas, 1829)	nominate, found in theCascade Range ofWashington to coastal mountains of central California
	O. p. plumifer –(Gould, 1837)	Southern Washington to western Nevada and central California
	O. p. russelli –AH Miller, 1946: pallid mountain quail	Little San Bernardino Mountains of southern California
	O. p. eremophilus –van Rossem, 1937: desert mountain quail	Sierra Nevada of southernCalifornia to northern Baja, and extreme southwesternNevada
	O. p. confinis –Anthony, 1889: southern mountain quail	mountains of northernBaja California

It inhabits mountainouschaparral west of theRocky Mountains, fromBritish Columbia in Canada, and some areas ofWashington state in the United States, toBaja Peninsula, Mexico. It can be found up to 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level. It is anon-migratory species; however some populations may be altitudinal migrants in some mountain ranges. Mountain quails also inhabit lava reefs in the Modoc Plateau of California, in addition to the chaparral and wooded areas of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Coast Range.

Mountain quail primarily move about by walking, and can move surprisingly quickly through brush and undergrowth. In the late summer, fall and winter, the adults and immature young congregate into family groups of up to 20 birds. The birds' habits can be secretive. Any flight is usually short and explosive, with many rapid wingbeats followed by a slow glide to the ground.

Itsdiet consists primarily of plant matter andseeds. The chicks are decidedly moreinsectivorous than adults, gradually consuming more plant matter as they mature.

Breeding among mountain quail ismonogamous and rarely gregarious. The female typically lays 9–10eggs in a simple scrape concealed in vegetation, often at the base of a tree orshrub, usually close to water.Incubation lasts from 21 to 25 days, usually performed by the female and rarely by the male. However, preliminary research by the University of Nevada suggests that males have successfully incubated chicks on their own, which creates the possibility of a pair of mountain quails raising two broods in one breeding season.^[4] The chicks areprecocial, leaving thenest with their parents within hours of hatching.

It is not considered threatened by theIUCN, being plentiful across a widerange. However, its success is tied to sufficient habitat, which expands in cooler and morearidclimate.Subfossil remains have been found, for example atRocky Arroyo in theGuadalupe Mountains andShelter Cave,New Mexico, where sufficient habitat no longer exists. The bones date found from the end of thelast ice age to not much more than8000 BC.^[5] A petition to list the mountain quail as endangered or threatened was denied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003. However, outside of California, the birds' habitat has been decreasing in Idaho, Nevada, and eastern Oregon and Washington because of drought and human activity, including agriculture and development.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related toOreortyx pictus.

Wikispecies has information related toOreortyx pictus.

• "Mountain quail media".Internet Bird Collection.
• Mountain quail photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Mountain quail Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Educational Quails Worksheet for Kids onEasyScienceforKids
• BirdLife species factsheet forOreortyx pictus
• Interactive range map ofOreortyx pictus atIUCN Red List
• Audio recordings of Mountain quail onXeno-canto.

• IUCN Red List least concern species
• Odontophoridae
• Quails
• Native birds of Western Canada
• Native birds of the Northwestern United States
• Native birds of the Western United States
• Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands
• Birds of Mexico
• Birds described in 1829

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
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• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Taxonbars with 20–24 taxon IDs