Montezuma Quail

About the Montezuma Quail

One of the most bizarre and beautiful birds in Texas, the male Montezuma Quail wears a swirling, clown-like face pattern of black and white and a soft round crest, with a body spangled in white spots and warm chestnut. Plump and short-tailed, it looks almost painted. Females are a subtler warm brown.

Famously secretive, Montezuma Quail freeze and crouch rather than flush, relying on that cryptic plumage, and they can be maddeningly hard to find - birders often walk right past them. They dig for bulbs, tubers, seeds, and insects in the grassy understory of oak woodlands, and travel in small coveys.

In Texas they are scarce, local residents of the grassy oak canyons and mountain slopes of the Trans-Pecos, tied to tall native bunchgrass for cover.

A note from behind the lens: this is a true prize, and patience plus a bit of luck is the only way. Move slowly along grassy oak slopes at dawn, watch the ground ahead, and when one holds tight, ease down for a low, respectful frame.