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LAND BIRDS GROUND WALKERS
Quail Family Gallery

The Scaled Quail Go Down Go Up
The Ground Walking Land Birds

Scaled Quail
The scaled quail, also commonly called the blue quail or cottontop, is a species of the New World quail family. It is a bluish gray bird found in the arid regions of the Southwestern United States to Central Mexico.
This bird is named for the scaly appearance of its breast and back feathers. Along with its scaly markings, the bird is easily identified by its white crest that resembles a tuft of cotton.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Odontophoridae
Genus: Callipepla
Species: squamata
Common Name: Scaled Quail
Conservation Status: LC
Subspecies:
C. S. squamata (Altiplano scaled quail, Central Plateau of Mexico)
C. S. pallida (northern scaled quail)
C. S. hargravei (Upper Sonoran scaled quail)
C. S. castanogastris (chestnut bellied scaled quail)
Description
Length: 10 - 12 inches
Wingspan: 14.2 - 16 inches
Weight: 6.2 - 6.7 ounces
Male:
The males are just a little bit larger than the females.
Habitat:
Desert grasslands and sparsely vegetated shrublands with plants like yucca, cholla, mesquite, skunkbush sumac, prickly pear, sandsage, pinyon, and juniper.
Forages in small groups (coveys) by walking slowly along the ground, pecking at seeds and insects or nipping vegetation. Males sing from conspicuous perches in spring. Often seen along roadsides in small groups, which usually run away or flush into flight.
Range:
The range of the scaled quail is the desert grasslands of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. This includes states like Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, extending south into numerous Mexican states. They prefer arid and semi-arid environments with low-growing shrubs and grasses.
US Distribution includes: Southeast corner of Arizona; East central Colorado; southwestern Kansas; most all of New Mexico; panhandle and southwest Oklahoma; western Texas.
Mexico distribution includes: northeastern Sonora; Chihuahua; Coahuila; Durango; Zacatecas; San Luis Potosi; Guanajuato; Queretaro; Hidalgo; and eastern coast of Tamaulipas
Land Birds, Ground Walkers
The Scaled Quail

The 2025 Journey, Scaled Quail Go Down Go Up
Sunday, 02 November 2025, Monahans, Texas
(Day 630 TS) 50°F. 6:30 am, sunny
Journey On, Day 94
Daylight Savings Time End (Fall Back)
Sleeping in the Jammer
Monahans Sandhills State Park
Campsite #13
Awake, arise, dress in my fall blues, climb into the front of the jammer, don my shoes, step out and then do my morning walk. Upon returning to the jammer, I open up the rear, grab my three ups and add the specific items in each to prepare my f-meal. Then, I set the three cup further forward, close the rear lift door, walk around to the drivers door and climb into the jammer, not stoping until I am sitting in the office seat. I then set up my water kettle, fill it with one liter of water, place the kettle on its base and turn the switch to the on position and wait for the water to boil.
Meanwhile, outside, a covey of scaled quails run quickly through the area checking it out for food. Two of the quail fly up to the top of one of the picnic table shelters while the rest fly off to the near by sand dune. They then all leave as quickly as the arrived and the sand dunes all return to their quite tranquility.
Land Birds, Ground Walkers
The Scaled Quail

1  
By ALAN SCHMIERER - https://www.flickr.com/photos/sloalan/16935159393/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57031708

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This Page Last Updated: 31 March 2026


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