California Quail (Callipepla californica) [XC530563]
by Thomas Magarian from NW Oak Island Rd, Sauvie Island, Multnomah County, Oregon, United States (call)
California Quail (Callipepla californica) [XC646522]
by Barry Edmonston from Coon Creek Trail, Montana de Oro State Park, California, United States (call, song)
Nest
A scrape in the ground, lined with grass.
Eggs (Guide)
8 - 22, usually 10 - 15; buff or cream, irregularly marked with dull brown spots and blotches; pointed oval; about 32 x 24 mm. Incubation: 22 - 23 days; by female.
Young
Precocial, nidifugous.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii) and sometimes considered conspecific.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
californica (Shaw, 1798) - Northern Oregon and western Nevada, north-western USA, south to Los Coronados Is, Baja California, north-western Mexico. Also (probably introduced) from southern British Columbia, south-western Canada, Seast to Colorado, west-central USA.
orecta (Oberholser, 1932) - South-eastern Oregon and extreme north-eastern California, western USA.
brunnescens (Ridgway, 1884) - Coastal northern California to south-central California, western USA. Also (probably introduced) Vancouver I, Canada.
catalinensis (Grinnell, 1906) - Santa Catalina I, off south-western California, western USA. Also (probably introduced) nearby Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Is.
canfieldae (van Rossem, 1939) - East-central California, western USA.
plumbea (Grinnell, 1926) - Southern California, western USA, to northern Baja California, north-western Mexico.
decolorata (van Rossem, 1946) - Central and southern Baja California, north-western Mexico.
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