Gambel's Quail

About the Gambel's Quail

The desert quail with the question-mark on its head - that jaunty black topknot, curling forward off the forehead, bobs with every step and gives the bird a permanently dapper look. Males add a black face outlined in white, a rusty cap, and a black belly patch; females keep the plume but soften everything else.

In Texas, Gambel's Quail is a specialty of the far west - the El Paso corner and the valley of the Rio Grande up through the Trans-Pecos - replacing the Scaled Quail of the open grasslands wherever brushy desert washes offer cover. The two overlap in places, and a covey of each in the same morning is a West Texas treat.

Coveys spend the day on foot, trailing through the thorn scrub in loose single file, calling a nasal ka-KAA-ka-ka to keep together. They run first and fly only when pressed, exploding into short, whirring flights that scatter the covey into the brush.

The classic photograph is a male on a mesquite snag at golden hour, topknot backlit - a pose the species obligingly strikes every evening of the year.