Many years ago a Victoria friend told me a wonderful story about California Quail in Beacon Hill Park. Peggy had rested her back against one of the famous Garry Oak trees with sun spilling through the leaves above. She closed her eyes, her arms out to her sides, palms-up in the sun.
A tickle aroused her attention. A family of passing California Quail had stopped so several tiny chicks could rest in a sunny spot…her open palms.
These charming ground-based birds have even dashed right under my lawn chair!
Alas, California Quail can be annoying, mainly because their feeding habits involve our vegetation. Getting new grass seed started is a challenge. California Quail LOVE grass seed, as well as most other small seeds, spring sprouts, grubs and insects. Fortunately I’ve found they can be foiled by anchoring loose weave burlap over small areas of seeded grass. Ditto for the use of rat wire to cover spring sprouts.
Otherwise, these well dressed, year-round, cantaloupe sized, top-knotted California Quail are quite gregarious, preferring lots of company. They often move in large groups, sprinting across roadways ahead of startled drivers.
“Sprinting” is a good description. Their legs and gnarly feet are their preferred mode of locomotion. It can be a surprise though, when a quail bursts from a shrubby hiding place in a whir of beating wings.
They also fly up to protective look-out stations, often the nearest fence post or roof top. From such a perch, usually an adult male, keeps an eye on the rest of the family and the new chicks learning to fend for themselves.
The chicks are on the go as soon as they hatch, ready to bolt to safety or scurry after mom…in flight two weeks later. Sometimes families team up. That results in large batches of chicks on the move in a mingling of family relations.
When I’ve observed foraging activity, mom or other caretakers make a soft and reassuring, repeated “pit, pit”. Other calls include a loud, firmly repeated, “Qua!” pause “Qua!”…, that may indicate “I am here.” The Cornell Lab All About Birds website states their most frequent call can be translated as “Chi-ca-go! Chi-ca-go!” My interpretation is “Quee, QUEE, coo!”
Then there’s a “Quink, quink, quink….” This call has become my indication that California Quail are in the neighbourhood…as “The ‘quinkers’ are back!”
‘Quinkers’ are certainly common where there is shrubbery, roadsides, scrubland, sagebrush and neighbourhood gardens. Nesting sites are usually under hedges, shrubs and grassy verges. A nest is just a simple scraped patch with a casual vegetation lining.
Animated, active and fun to watch, they’re populous too!
Native to chaparral landscapes in California they’ve been introduced as game birds to the northern Western States, Southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. These days they energetically inhabit the Okanagan, top to bottom…where a renowned British Columbia ornithologist suggests they may be at their most populous!
I’m inclined to think they could pop up almost anywhere. They may already be in your neighbourhood!
To contact Dianne please go to writer@diannebersea.com