Montezuma Quail

Cyrtonyx montezumae

The most ornate quail in North America. The male wears a harlequin face mask of black, white, and chestnut.

Population: Global population size not quantified (in part due to recent taxonomic splits) but believed very large; current trend decreasing due to deforestation, overgrazing, and hunting (BirdLife DataZone, 2021 assessment)
Habitat: Open oak and pine-oak woodlands and montane grasslands with dense native grass cover (at least ~30 cm tall), typically on hillsides and canyon slopes at 1,060-3,000 m elevation; also juniper zones
Fun fact: Rather than flushing and running like most quail, the well-camouflaged Montezuma Quail's main defense is to crouch motionless in tall grass, often letting people or predators approach within about a meter before exploding into flight with a loud, popping wing noise.
Range: Resident from Oaxaca through interior Mexico to the mountains of southeastern/central Arizona, southwestern/central New Mexico, and West Texas (absent from deserts and the Rio Balsas valley); Extent of Occurrence ~1,590,000 km2
Diet: Insects (especially in summer), bulbs and tubers (notably Oxalis) and sedge tubers (Cyperus esculentus and C. sphaerolepis), plus acorns; dug from the ground using distinctive long, sickle-shaped claws
Size: 0.215 m
Wingspan: 0.42 m
Lifespan: 8 years

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