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California Quail (Callipepla californica) are the common quail of southern California. These cocks were calling in the brush around Carmel Valley Road, East of Carmel, April, 1999.
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A cock Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii) perches in the highest tree in his territory and issues this single note call. My Dad and I called this call the "nesting call" because we heard it continuously during the breeding and brooding season (May to July). My casual observations, though, now seem to indicate that this call is put out there by bachelor males advertising for a mate. I have not observed a cock who has a hen with him calling this way, nor have I heard a cock with young calling this note.
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Gambels quail are heard the world over in every Western movie ever made. Here are two examples of their "gathering call" which you all knew, just didn't know you knew!
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Gambel's Quail are some of the most vocally expressive birds. They have specific vocalizations for lots of situations you and I would recognize easily. In this sample a small covey feeds in the underbrush and discusses the neighborhood news. This clucking helps keep the covey together and appears to have some "pecking order" functions.
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Here a father Gambel's Quail teaches his sons about the appropriate time to crow. The youngsters are crowing in response to another youngster a few hundred meters away, but we are too close, and the father "hushes" the adolescent enthusiasm with a harsh "cluck" just as the young one crows. He does this four times in this sample, but he did it over and over until the student stopped.
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A male Gambel's Quail worries over his brood, and takes flight at the last moment. The first vocalizations are common to both sexes while they're raising their kids. These sounds seem to be used to tie the family together, and to indicate to the children that they should be alert. The flight sound of this guy is well known to anyone in the Southwest US. It is a combination of wing noise and vocalization - quite startling if you don't expect it!
