The first time I’ve ever photographed mating behavior in California Quail.
Eight days ago I went down to the Jordan River, for the second day in a row, to look for the California Quail I’d found the day before. On that previous day there’d been three of them, a lone male with two females, but I never got any photos of the females and in the only photos I got of the male, he was perched in shade in a tree.
I knew that finding them was a long shot but it was the best shot I had.
After waiting patiently for a while, I got lucky. Here a female had popped out of the bushes and was running to my right.
She was followed almost immediately by a male – very likely the same male I’d photographed the day before. As they were running, they both stayed right on the boundary between shade and sunlight. They weren’t running from me (they were actually getting closer to me) but they seemed to have a destination in mind.
Their apparent destination was a cluster of what I call “dust bathtubs” – depressions in the ground that they had excavated in the past while taking dust baths. Here the male is in the largest and deepest of the four bathtubs.
The female was in a smaller bathtub, about a foot away from the male. They both scrunched down in their tubs, fluffed up their feathers and threw dirt over their backs, and elsewhere. More about that later.
But at that point something unusual happened.
Faster than I could follow with my lens, the male popped out of his bathtub, mounted the female and mated with her – or at least tried to. Here’s part of what Cornell has to say about the mating process in California Quail:
“the female raises her tail into a vertical position and the male grabs the nape of her neck with his beak.”
But in this case, the female never lifted her tail and they never made cloacal contact. It’s my theory that she couldn’t lift her tail, because the male was standing too far back on the base of it and she was in a hole, so the weight of the male was holding her tail down.
So the male just gave up. He let go of the nape of her neck and…
hopped off of her, without completing the “cloacal kiss”.
By now you’ve noticed that piece of blue plastic. More about that damn thing in a minute.
It only took the female seconds to get back to her dust bath. Here she’s throwing dirt over her back, some of the shadows of which are evident on the male’s breast.
Just look at all of the dirt on her back.
I like this body posture of the female.
Apparently the male could tell that the fleeting “magic moment’ was gone so he…
went back to his own bathtub and they both started throwing some serious dirt.
The male was a real excavator. There were times when I could barely see him because of all the flying dirt.
After they both quit bathing and left the area, I went home and looked at my photos. The more I looked the more angry I became when I realized that that damn piece of blue plastic had despoiled the vast majority of my photos. At first I was angry at the plastic (now there’s an illogical emotion), then I became angry at the person who had discarded it.
I ate lunch and then tried to take my obligatory afternoon nap, but at first I couldn’t sleep because it was at that point that I realized that I should have walked over and retrieved the plastic after I was through photographing the quail. After I promised myself that I’d go down and retrieve it after my nap, I was finally able to sleep.
Later that afternoon, this is what I found – the piece of blue plastic partially embedded in the ground and the four “dust bathtubs” of varying size and depth.
And no, I didn’t forget to retrieve the plastic, which ended up in my garbage bin.
Sometimes I’m a little late in doing the right thing but I like to think I usually get around to it. Assuming I think of it in the first place.
Ron
The very first picture – with all the foliage was BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks for sharing all of this – and congrats on going after that blue garbage. It meant another trip – but I’m sure it was worth it. Littering is one of the things I HATE!
“It meant another trip.”
It isn’t much of a trip, Judy. It’s only about a half mile from my house.
Wonderful post and pictures! I loved the denouement of the whole thing. Thanks
Thank you, Joanne.
Those dust baths are incredibly energetic aren’t they? There is a preferred spot on the edge of one of our garden beds where bulbs are often dug out and sent flying. Pigeons are the major perpetrators there.
Thank you for going back to remove that pesky plastic. And grrr at the person who left it.
As is becoming far too common your post is v slow to load today. I have (after ten minutes) the first three photos. I will come back (again) later.
I’m sorry you’re having problems loading this post, EC. I’m sure it’s very frustrating.
This is a great post, Ron — love your pics and narrative, all the readers’ comments and stories, and the new knowledge of quails’ communal chick-raising. Everett’s story of the single dad of 14 is so sweet! And good on you for going back to snatch up that stinkin’ piece o’ plastic bag (I really wouldn’t expect anything less from you). ❤️
“I really wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
Don’t give me too much credit, Chris. I didn’t even think of it while I was down there, so I came close to not thinking of it at all. Think of me as a good guy in training, at the ripe old age of 78.
Great behavior photos. I keep part of my garden, back by the bird feeders, soft dirt free of plants for the birds to take dirt baths. I get a good number of birds there. My cats like it too. I am lucky I get to watch quail year round in my yard. Their area is never very sunny so I seldom try for photos.
Thanks, April. I wish I had quail in my yard more often, although I did have one a few days ago.
Great photos, Ron. But in this case I think I enjoyed the narrative even more than the photos. As always, thanks for sharing this!
“I enjoyed the narrative even more than the photos.”
That pleases me, Bill. In the context of telling a nuanced story like this one, the narrative is just as important, to me at least, as the photos.
What a fascinating look into the spa habits of California Quail! We’re within their range map, according to the Cornell site, but I don’t recall ever seeing them — even while out hiking.
Thank you for picking up the plastic, Ron. I know you don’t like to “shop-out” human detritus from your shots, but I think you have a case here, especially because you removed it from the wild. 🙂
Marty, I don’t remember seeing them when I lived in San Diego County either. But then I was just a kid.
I seriously considered ‘getting rid’ of the plastic in my photos but in the end, I didn’t want to get into the habit. Knowing me and habits…
Ah, the bliss of the dust bath! I love watching our quail at the spa. Ours really do tuck down and roll around, but your photos reveal how much dirt they are throwing in the process.
That piece of blue plastic made me mad, too. Thank you for going back and retrieving it.
And thanks to Everett for the story of the quail dad. I’ve had 2 lone males showing up in the yard in the past couple days, as well as a mated pair. I’ve wondered if the lone males have their mates sitting on nests somewhere.
“I’ve wondered if the lone males have their mates sitting on nests somewhere.”
I wouldn’t be surprised, Carolyn. Here’s what Cornell has to say about incubation in this species:
“Female usually does all of the incubating; there is anecdotal evidence that if a female dies during incubation her mate will incubate. However, males often have brood patches and single males sometimes join a family of one or more adults and chicks, and it is not unusual for males to adopt chicks.”
We have seen couples adopt chicks of other broods. One year we had three families hanging out together in the yard and feeder area. First the female of one family disappeared and dad was taking care of the dozen chicks. Something happened to the dad a few days later and he was dying with about 5 of his brood still with him. We collected him up but he died in a few hours. We were debating of what to do about the chicks and watching them. The brood was the youngest chicks of the three families. They hung around with the other families and were adopted by the others. The adults were as protective of the adopted chicks as their own. The adopted chicks seemed to float from family to family but were watched over. The adopted chicks seemed to do ok. We have high mortality rate of quail, feral cats, Cooper’s hawks, rats, but mostly raccoons get them. We will hear a quail ruckus in the night in the gully behind us and when I go out with a flash light I will see quail up high everywhere alarm calling and then a group of racoon scurry out of the brush. The females like to nest under the pyracantha, it gives good cover except from raccoons.
Neat story, April.
Excellent capture of Quail behaviors. I had no idea. You really saw some action there!
Thanks, Kathryn. I sure did.
Remarkably illustrated mating story. Excellent photos, information, and good citizen award for picking up the trash. We have Gambel’s Quail in the backyard and all over town at this time of the year. They are everywhere and sadly many get hit by cars running across streets. One year years back we had a small tree planted in an old wine barrel on our front patio. Quails nested there and mated. Along the way she disappeared. No problem he took over and sat on the eggs every day. Had 16 eggs hatch and from that he ended up with 14 healthy living chicks. It was really a fun day watching him down on the ground encouraging the more cautious ones to jump down to the ground, but eventually he got them all and they ducked under the gate and of they went into the world. When you think of all the dangers facing these tiny little guys I would be surprised if half of them made it to adulthood.
Thank you, Everett.
We have Gambel’s Quail in southern and parts of central Utah but I don’t recall ever seeing any up here.
There aren’t many things cuter than baby quail – of any species.
Neat series of shots, Ron! 🙂 Know our chickens used to love their dirt baths tho, often, in the sun here – thought one was dead a couple of times when it was luxuriating in it all! 😉 People and their trash – glad you went back and retrieved it before it caused problems.
Robins have nothing on Grackles when it comes to harassing owls trying to roost during the day – good thing they are more or less protrected! 😉 Don’t think we have a GHOW nest in the yard but a male was trying to roost for several days – didn’t get much rest.
“our chickens used to love their dirt baths…thought one was dead a couple of times when it was luxuriating in it all!”
Judy, I’ve never understood the enjoyment of bathing (in dirty water of all things 🙂 ). The only times I’ve ever bathed it’s been because I was sick – or didn’t have access to a shower. But if I miss getting my daily shower my whole day seems somehow ‘off’.
I hope the quails can find their tubs now that you have removed their marker.
Ha, I never thought of that possibility, Brad. Hope they haven’t been cussing me…
Once again, your photos are revealing something I have never seen before. Another story and another glimpse into the secret lives of birds.
Don’t know if a “magic moment” was ever in the cards for this fella. She kept that tail down and seems a bit put out at having her dirt bath interrupted. He did the right thing. Just calmly walk away and take a cold dirt shower.
Kudos to you for getting that plastic bit picked-up. When doing the right thing calls, you just got to answer.
“Just calmly walk away and take a cold dirt shower.”
Once again you made me laugh, Michael.
You may be right about the magic moment never being in the cards for him. On the other hand, he rushed over to her so quickly I had to wonder if she’d given him some kind of subtle behavioral cue indicating that she was “ready”. Who knows. Not I, said the photographer.