California Quail (Callipepla californica)
   
 
Narrative and Science Lens
 
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 Audubon shows the female investigating what may be a Harvestman (or Daddylonglegs), an eight-legged arachnid that resembles a spider, but is not venomous. This scene is a little unusual since the birds usually eat seeds and foliage. These occasional hunters are themselves hunted. In San Francisco in 1881-82, for example, quail-on-toast went for thirty cents. More than 375,000 birds were shipped in from southern California that year, bringing hunters $32,000, or about a dollar per dozen.
Although considered hardy and adaptable, the popular birds were overhunted, and by 1885 targeting them was no longer profitable. Populations recovered, hunting has continued, some areas are artificially stocked, and today the bag limit within the state is 10 birds.

One measure of their adaptability is producing small broods during drought years, which reduces the risk of rearing young who will eventually starve (See below: Quail Eggs and Clover and Wheye drawing after Audubon). One measure of their popularity is their designation as California's state bird.
 
  Campus Locations
Historically common throughout campus, but now extirpated from many areas. As recently as the early 1990s, coveys could be found in the Arboretum and around the Oval, but these have mostly disappeared. Sightings in the general area are now uncommon and declining, probably in response to predation, especially by cats, and reduced dispersal through the campus from "natural" areas. The birds are primarily seen either in southern portions of campus, where they forage in grassy habitats or under oaks and use dense brush and ornamental plantings for cover, around Lagunita, or in the Dish area.
  Campus sustainability
  By the 1960s Bay Area quail populations, which had been generally widespread and common were declining and heading toward local extinctions. In 1999, the National Audubon Society added them to their list of threatened bird species and the San Francisco chapter launched a "Save the Quail" campaign to counter habitat loss and predation by feral cats in Golden Gate Park, where the population had dropped to 12 from about 1,200. The Presidio, which has San Francisco's largest quail population, installed eight “Quail in Area, Drive Carefully” road signs and initiated monitoring projects and habitat restoration activities. Quail protection expanded across the city within a year, and the bird was designated San Francisco’s official bird. Meanwhile, by the late 1980s statewide hunters were taking 2 million birds annually. On campus the birds are at risk to predation by cats and other urban-adapted predators, and habitat fragmentation, which reduces recolonization. The decline is apparent both on campus and in other more urbanized areas.
       What you can do
  1. Share your sightings—especially of the birds nesting on campus and try to keep a journal.
  2. See if coveys seem to be blocked by fencing or the absence of cover.
  3. Note if birds are seen in areas with native or weed plants v. gardens v. grassy areas.
  4. Note any roadways the birds cross, and try to determine if "Quail in Area, Drive Carefully" signs would improve their safety.
  Science
       Essays from The Birder’s Handbook:
            Quail Eggs and Clover; Precocial and Altricial Young, Flock Defense
       References:
            Gutierrez, 1979-80; Gutierrez et al., 1983; Leopold, 1977; Zink et al., 1987.
       Videos:
  Art
       Photos:
            Johanna van de Woestijne's photo of California Quail benefiting from the cover provided by native plantings such as native California lilac (Ceanothus spp) in rurubian areas around the campus. See more of Johanna's photographs.

          For more photos of California Quail (and text), see 10000 birds

       Drawings and Paintings:
            Darryl Wheye: California Quail, after Audubon with a chick and normal and stunted Subterranean Clover
                    “subclover”(Trifolium subterraneum)

          Darryl Wheye: California Quail in Woodside
 
  To add to the Science or Art links, submit bird sightings, comment on the exhibit or the web presentation, or ask questions, please use the web forms on the Art at Exits home page.