callipepla (from lophotos, crested, and ortyx, quail) gambelil (given by Thomas Nuttallin in 1843 in honor of his protégé, William Gambel, an early field collector of birds in Southwest California)
Saturday, March 31, 1984 — 10:20 am
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Arizona
The museum had a feeder for wild birds. A bunch of Gambel’s Quails were clustered about the base of the feeder and running about in the surrounding scrub in company with more familiar birds like Cardinals. Occasionally, one of the Gambel’s Quails would get up on the feeder, and pairs were wandering all about the ground nearby. They often gave a loud, startling cry.
Later in the day at Saguaro National Monument, I could hear more Gambel’s Quails calling from the surrounding hills.