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  Profile

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  In flight

Game Birds

Mountain Quail

Oreortyx pictus

• epic
• 44 km/h
• Least Concern

North America's largest quail. Migrates by walking downhill in winter, then walking back up in spring. No shortcuts.

Population

~260,000 mature individuals (Partners in Flight estimate, corroborated via Cornell Lab All About Birds); population trend is DECLINING, not stable — the IUCN assessment lists the global trend as Decreasing, and PIF survey data show roughly a 4.3%/year decline from 2005-2015 in significant parts of the range (Idaho, Nevada, eastern Oregon/Washington), driven by habitat loss to grazing, agriculture, drought, and development.

Habitat

Dense, remote mountainous chaparral and shrubby slopes; an elevational migrant that breeds in montane woodland/brush up to ~3,000 m (10,000 ft) and moves down to lower ridges, foothills, or desert-edge scrub in autumn/winter.

Fun fact

The largest quail species in the United States, Mountain Quail cope with heavy mountain snowfall not by flying south but by walking — whole family coveys descend on foot from high breeding elevations (up to ~3,000 m / 10,000 ft) to lower wintering grounds each autumn, an elevational migration performed almost entirely on foot rather than by sustained flight.

Range

Western North America, from southwestern British Columbia (Canada, including an introduced Vancouver Island/coastal population) south through Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada to the Baja California peninsula, Mexico.

Diet

Primarily seeds, bulbs, acorns, berries, and other plant matter; chicks feed heavily on insects (especially beetles and ants in summer) before shifting to the largely plant-based adult diet.

Size

0.27 m

Wingspan

0.38 m

Lifespan

5 years