California state bird: A guide to the California quail, its calls, coveys and habitat

The California quail lives year-round across most of California, at low and middle elevations from north to south. It does not migrate, so it can be seen in any month in brushy country, oak woodland, farm edges and suburban gardens. The one big gap is the southeastern deserts, where Gambel's quail takes its place, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's (CDFW) California Wildlife Habitat Relationships account.

It is also the official California state bird. State law names it, and the Fish and Game Code classes it as a resident game bird, so it is hunted under a state season and bag limit. It is the only bird in our first set of species guides that the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act does not cover.

This guide covers the state-bird law, how to identify a California quail, where it lives in California, what it eats and how it nests, its calls and its legal status, including the current hunting season. It is part of our guide to the birds of California.

California quail at a glance

Sources: CBRC checklist (September 8, 2026); CDFW CWHR account B140; Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds; California Government Code and Fish and Game Code; 50 CFR 10.13.

California state bird: The California quail under Government Code section 423:

California's state bird is set by statute. Government Code section 423 says, "The California valley quail (Lophortyx californica) is the official bird and avifaunal emblem of the State." The section dates to a 1943 statute, chapter 134.

The names in the law are older than the ones birders use today. The California Bird Records Committee's official checklist, which sets the names for the state list, calls the bird California Quail, Callipepla californica. CDFW's habitat account uses the same scientific name, and one of the studies it cites still uses the older genus Lophortyx. The bird in the statute and the bird on the checklist are the same species.

California quail identification: A plump gray-and-brown quail with a forward-drooping topknot:

The California quail is a plump, short-necked ground bird with a small head and bill, short broad wings and a fairly long, square tail. It measures about 9.4 to 10.6 inches long and weighs 4.9 to 8.1 ounces, with a wingspan of 12.6 to 14.6 inches, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds identification page.

Both sexes carry a comma-shaped plume that curls forward from the forehead, longer in males. It looks like one feather but is made of six overlapping feathers, the Cornell Lab notes. Adult males are rich gray and brown with a black face outlined in bold white. Females are plainer brown and lack the face pattern. Both sexes have a belly scaled in white, cream and chestnut. Young birds look like females with a shorter plume.

California quail spend most of their time on the ground, walking and scratching for food in groups called coveys. They can fly, and they burst into the air when flushed, but usually only far enough to reach cover.

Two other native quail share the state. Gambel's quail replaces the California quail in the southeastern deserts, and the mountain quail is the third. Cornell's similar-species list also includes the chukar and the gray partridge. CDFW notes that the California quail, mountain quail and Gambel's quail are California's three native quail and that every county is home to at least one of them.

California quail range and habitat: Year-round in brushy country from the coast to the foothills:

CDFW's habitat account describes the California quail as a common, permanent resident of low and middle elevations throughout California. It lives in shrub, scrub and brush, in open stages of conifer and broadleaf forest and along the margins of grassland and cropland. Cornell adds chaparral, sagebrush, oak woodland and foothill forest, and notes that the species tolerates people and can be common in city parks, suburban gardens and farmland.

The key requirement is a mix of cover. The quail needs low brush with grassy or weedy openings, taller shrubs and trees for escape and roosting and water nearby. It seldom ventures more than 50 to 100 feet from cover to feed.

The species does not migrate, but it does move with the seasons. Winter coveys range over roughly twice the area a pair uses in summer, and coveys may disperse up to 5 miles in spring. In cool weather the birds can meet their water needs from succulent plants, insects and dew. In hot weather they need free water every day, and in dry spells they gather near water.

The California quail has also been introduced to Hawaii, Europe and New Zealand, which explains why it turns up in searches from outside the state.

California quail diet and nesting: Seeds, ground nests and clutches of about 14 eggs:

California quail eat mainly seeds, especially those of legumes, along with green leaves, insects and other arthropods, grain and fruit. They forage on the ground and in low plants, scratching, gleaning and jumping to pick seeds, blossoms and fruit. Chicks eat large amounts of insects. In a 2024 news release on the quail season, CDFW listed lupine, clover, chickweed, filaree and fiddleneck among the plants common in the diet.

Pairs form from March to early May. The nest is a small hollow in the ground lined with grasses and other plants and hidden among shrubs. Nesting runs from April to August and peaks in May and June. CWHR gives an average clutch of 14 eggs, with a range of 6 to 16. Cornell notes that nests can hold as many as 28 eggs, probably because some females lay eggs in other females' nests. The female incubates for about 23 days while the male stays nearby, and most nests hatch in June. The chicks can walk and feed soon after hatching, and a brood stays together through the winter or joins other broods to form a covey. In good years a female may lay a second clutch while the male tends the first brood.

Rain drives the cycle. CWHR notes that high numbers usually follow wet winters with abundant forbs, and CDFW's 2024 release says quail populations "boom and bust with rainfall." Predators include Cooper's hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, great horned owls, snakes, ground squirrels, domestic cats, coyotes, skunks, bobcats and jays.

California quail calls and sounds: A three-note covey call and a sharp alarm note:

The best-known sound of the California quail is a three-syllable call, which Cornell writes as "chi-ca-go." A bird gives it when separated from its covey or mate and when a covey is moving or about to move. Each call lasts about a second, and a bird may repeat it ten or more times in a row. A repeated "pit-pit" note warns the covey of danger, and mated pairs call back and forth in a closely timed exchange. Recordings are on the All About Birds California quail sounds page.

California quail legal status: A resident game bird outside the federal migratory bird list:

The California quail is not listed as threatened or endangered under state or federal law. Fish and Game Code section 3500 names it as a resident game bird, along with Gambel's quail, mountain quail and wild turkeys. That puts it under CDFW's hunting regulations rather than the nongame-bird rules that cover most songbirds.

The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act does not cover it. The quail does not appear on the federal list of protected migratory birds at 50 CFR 10.13. Its nests are still protected under state law. Fish and Game Code section 3503 makes it unlawful to take, possess or needlessly destroy the nest or eggs of any bird except as the code or its regulations allow.

For the 2026–2027 season, CDFW's upland game bird hunting page divides the state into three quail zones. Zone Q2 opened to all quail on September 26. Zones Q1 and Q3 open to all quail on October 17, after a mountain-quail-only season in Zone Q1 from September 12 to October 16. All three zones close January 31. The daily bag limit is 10 quail, and the possession limit is triple the daily bag. Separate archery and falconry seasons also apply. Hunters need a California hunting license and an upland game bird validation, unless they hunt under a junior license, and nonlead ammunition is required for taking any wildlife with a firearm in California.

California quail in California: The state bird is common, local and tied to rainfall:

The California quail is a year-round resident of brushy country at low and middle elevations the length of California, and it rarely strays far from cover. It is the official state bird under Government Code section 423 and a resident game bird under the Fish and Game Code, hunted under seasons set each year. Its numbers rise and fall with winter rain, and its three-note call is often the first sign that a covey is nearby.