Mountain Quail: Large,striking quail with long elegant black head plume, white-bordered rufous-brown face and throat, gray-brown upperparts, blue-gray breast, and rufous-brown belly and sides with distinct white bars. Rapid direct flight, series of several stiff wing beats followed by a short glide.
Range and Habitat
Mountain Quail: A quail of dry brushy montane hillsides throughout the west.
The Mountain Quail is the largest quail in the United States.
Although their secretive nature makes it difficult to accurately census, it has clearly experienced a great decline in the past 50 years in parts of its range.
These birds are unique among members of their family in undertaking seasonal migrations up and down the slopes of mountains.
A group of quails has many collective nouns, including a "battery", "drift", "flush", "rout", and "shake" of quails.
The Mountain Quail has a large range, estimated globally at 350,000 square kilometers. Native to Canada, the United States, and Mexico, this bird prefers forest and shrubland ecosystems, though it has been known to live in areas of arable land as well. The global population of this bird is estimated at 160,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Mountain Quail is Least Concern.