Arizonans
have the privilege of hunting three species
of quail-four, if the few California quail
found along the Little Colorado River drainage
in Apache County are included. These are
the Gambel's quail, scaled quail, and Mearns' or
Montezuma quail. Another quail, formerly
found in Arizona, the masked bobwhite, is
listed federally as an endangered species.
Of the above species, the Gambel's or desert quail is by far the best known.
Found in most of the state's counties, these birds are often hunted in
open desert country where they are more apt to run or flush than hold for
a dog. The Gambel's jaunty, plumed topknot, carried by both sexes, makes
for ready identification, along with the male's bright russet cap, black
face and bib, and cream-colored belly marked with a black horseshoe. As
with all species of quail, the young of the year can be distinguished through
their first winter by their spotted secondary wing coverts. Adult males
average only about 6 ounces; the slightly smaller females between 5.7 and
5.9 ounces.
The handsome-rather
than gaudy-scaled quail is the second most
commonly encountered quail in Arizona. A bird
of the open country of eastern Arizona, this
quail too is more likely to run than hold.
Both sexes of this species display white, conical
crests, hence the common name of "cottontop." The
scaled appellation is appropriate, however,
as the birds possess a distinctive scalloping
on the breast, nape and belly. Otherwise, their
overall color is tan above with a mixture of
beige, grays, and whites below. A generally
bigger bird than the Gambel's quail, adult
male "scalies" average about 7.3 ounces, females
6.7 ounces.
Habitat
Scaled Quail
Mearns' quail are
the largest and most striking, yet also the
most secretive of Arizona's quails. Male Mearns' quail
have white and black harlequin-marked heads,
capped by a russet shock of feathers that form
an ill-fitting crest. These cock quail also
possess handsome brown and black checkered
backs interlaced with white darts, and whitespotted
black flanks similar to a guinea fowl's. Their
breasts and underparts are a rich mahogany
that turns to black at the rump, which terminates
in a stubby, almost non-existent tail. The
hens are cinnamon colored with brown, black
and buff markings. In winter, the males average
about 6.9 ounces, the females about 6.2 ounces.
Long, scythe-shaped claws that are used for
digging show that these birds are ground-dwellers,
and they hold so well to a dog that this species
has come to be known as Arizona's greatest
game bird.
Natural History
The sexes of all Arizona quails show some differences in plumage, and all
of the species form seasonal pair bonds that last through incubation and
brood-raising. Clutch and brood sizes are often large, ranging up to a
dozen or more chicks, and both the cock and the hen care for the young.
Individual birds have short life spans, however, and population sizes tend
to fluctuate widely from year to year. All Arizona species form fall and
winter coveys that are likely to remain in the same general area where
they were raised.
Each species has its own habitat preferences. The Gambel's quail is found
throughout the Sonoran and Mojave deserts upward in elevation through semidesert
grassland and chaparral to the edges of pinyon-juniper woodland and pine
forest- wherever mesquites and other brushy cover occur. The scaled quail
is a bird of semidesert grasslands and the Chihuahuan desert, preferring
open plains and foothills; the Mearns' quail prefers oak woodlands and
oak savannas in the southeastern portions of the state where grass cover
is abundant enough to conceal its presence.
Although all three major species of Arizona quail have formed pair bonds
by March, they each have different breeding seasons. Gambel's quail breed
only in spring and early summer, and breeding intensity and success are
directly related to the amount of rainfall received during the previous
October through March. The breeding season of scaled quail is more complex.
They breed in spring after wet winters, but also during the summer months
after the monsoons have started. Mearns' quail nest only after the summer
monsoon season, and often postpone breeding until after the summer solstice
when the days are getting shorter. The factors determining the population
levels of the various species also differ. The numbers of Gambel's quail
are related more to the success of the hatch than to carry-over from the
previous year. Scaled quail numbers are determined by both the success
of the hatch and the number of birds surviving from the year before. Mearns' quail
generally have good hatching success, and their highly fluctuating numbers
are determined largely by how many birds survive the winter. All of the
birds experience relatively high winter mortality. The scaled and Mearns' quail
are more dependent on grass cover for over-winter survival than is the
Gambel's quail, and hence are more sensitive to livestock grazing pressures
than the Gambel's.
Hunting and Trapping
History
By the turn of the century, quail hunting had become a popular pastime
in Arizona, and a generous season and lack of a bag limit gave the state
a reputation for harboring "game-hogs." Then, in 1909, the territorial
legislature limited quail hunting to an open season of October 16 through
January 31, an arrangement that was retained in the state game code of
1912 along with a bag limit of 25 quail. In 1929 quail numbers must have
been thought to be in need of improvement, as the season was shortened
to November 1 through December 31, and the following year the newly appointed
Arizona Game and Fish Commission reduced the bag limit to 15 quail per
day. There was no season on Mearns' or "fool quail" as this species was
commonly known.
During the years that followed, quail seasons and bag limits varied in
response to quail numbers and the success of the hatch, which in some years,
such as 1946-48, was so poor that no season was authorized. It was believed
that unless the ratio of young to adult quail observed on summer surveys
was less than 2.1:1 a hunt could not be justified, and even when there
was a season, it might be only two days long with a five-bird bag limit.
Then, in the 1950s and early 1960s, research showed that hunting mortality
was compensatory to natural mortality, and a standardized season from mid-October
through the end of the month, followed by another season from November
1 through the end of January, gradually became the norm, along with a 15-bird
bag limit. Later, the month of November was also opened to quail hunting
and the closing date delayed until mid-February. This season, which applies
to both Gambel's and scaled quail, has continued to the present day.
In 1960 a two-day season on Mearns' quail was authorized for a limited
area in the Santa Rita Mountains. Hunting was shown to have a negligible
effect on this species also, and this season too was gradually expanded.
Today, the season opens in mid-November in deference to the bird's late
nesting habits, and continues to mid-February. This bird and season has
become so popular with bird dog hunters that recent Commission meetings
have often entertained proposals to lower the 15-bird bag limit to a lesser
number in an attempt to "spread out the harvest."
Quail hunting in Arizona has always had its ups and downs. The top year
in recent times was in 1979 when nearly 100,000 hunters reported harvesting
more than 2.5 million quail. Since then, quail numbers and hunter interest
have fallen off, with hunter numbers ranging from 44,000 to 75,000 each
year between 1990 and 1999. The reported harvest of Gambel's quail during
this same period has fluctuated from slightly more than 300,000 to just
over 1.3 million, causing some hunters and wildlife managers to wonder
if a long-term decline in quail numbers may have occurred.
Habitat
