Mountain Quail

Mountain quail ( Oreortyx pictus), males

The mountain quail ( Oreortyx pictus ) is a species of bird in the family of quail. It is the only species of the genus Oreortyx.

Features

The bird has an overall average length of 26 cm to 29 cm, and a range of 35 to 40 cm. Your weight is 230-292 g mountain quail have relatively short, rounded wings. They have a brown face, a gray, bluish chest.

Dissemination

The distribution of mountain quail comprised of the North American west coast in the United States and Mexico from Washington State to Baja California. In the United States it occurs in the states of Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada, in Mexico only in Baja California. Bone findings in caves occupy a presence in New Mexico after the end of the last ice age. The mountain quail inhabits mixed woodland, chaparral and meadows in mountainous areas.

Reproduction

The female lays usually 9 to 10 eggs in a simple depression in the vegetation hidden, often at the base of a tree or shrub. The incubation period is 21 to 25 days, usually from the female and rarely incubated by the male. The chicks are precocial, leaving the nest with their parents within a few hours after hatching.

Phylogeny

The genus Oreortyx has emerged within the family of quail before at least 6 million years, making it earlier emerged as the genus Colinus. Subfossil finds from the Guadalupe Mountains and the Shelter Cave in New Mexico with an age of 10,000 years show the distribution of the species in this area after the end of the last ice age.

Subspecies

We have described five subspecies:

  • Oreortyx pictus confinis (Anthony, 1889) - In the mountains in the northern Lower California home.
  • Oreortyx pictus eremophilus ( Van Rossem, 1937) - The circulation area ranges from the Sierra Nevada in Southern California to the north of the Baja California peninsula and into the far southwest Nevada.
  • Oreortyx pictus pictus ( Douglas, 1829) - The nominate is spread by the Cascade Range in the state of Washington to the mountains to the coast of Central California.
  • Oreortyx pictus plumifer ( Gould, 1837) - From the south of the State of Washington, its habitat extends to the west to Central California and Nevada
  • Oreortyx pictus russelli (AH Miller, 1946) - This subspecies lives in the Little San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California.

Threat and protection

The mountain quail is currently on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ( IUCN) classified as not at risk ( " least concern " ) due to its large distribution area and the stable populations.

Spencer Fullerton Baird David Douglas Washington (state) John Gould Digital Object Identifier
117262
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