1. Identifying and Classifying Game Birds

2. Next Generation Science / Common Core Standards Addressed
HS‐LS2‐8. Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on: (1) distinguishing between group and individual behavior, (2) identifying evidence supporting the outcomes of group behavior, and (3) developing logical and reasonable arguments based on evidence. Examples of group behaviors could include flocking, schooling, herding, and cooperative behaviors such as hunting, migrating, and swarming.

3. Bell Work / Objectives
Describe the characteristics and types of quail.
Describe the characteristics and types of pheasants.
Describe the characteristics of chukar partridges.

4. Terms
Plume
Top Knot

5. Identifying and Classifying Game Birds
How do you classify different things?
Why do we classify things?
What are some classifications of game birds?
What are some ways to identify different types of game birds?

6. What are the types of quail?
Bobwhite
Colinus virginianus
California
Lophortyx californicus
Gambel’s
Lophortyx gambelli
Masked Bobwhite
Colinus viginanus ridgwayi
Mearns’
Cyrtonyz montezumae
Mountain
Oreortyx pictus
Scaled
Callipepla squamata

7. What are the characteristics of the bobwhite quail?
Widest ranging of all quail species.
Located primarily in Midwest, Southern, and Eastern United States.
Found in abandoned farms and fields, brushy cover and edges of woodlands.
A few may be found in eastern NM in farm areas.

8. What are the characteristics of the bobwhite quail?
Male colorings
White throat.
White band above the eye extending down the neck.
Reddish brown coloring with a short gray tail.
Call is a whistled “bob-bob-white”.
Female colorings
Similar to the male but duller in color.
More buff colored.
No plume on either sex.
Slightly longer feathers on the top of the head.

9. What are the characteristics of the California quail?
State bird of California.
Known as valley quail.
Located in a wide range of habitat zones.
Prefers woodlands, chaparral and grassy valleys of California, Oregon & Washington.

10. What are the characteristics of the California quail?
Male colorings
Black throat and face bordered by white bands.
White forehead.
Female colorings
Duller
Lacks head markings.
Both sexes have forward curving plume.
Known as top knot.
Call is three notes with mid not sung the highest.
“Chi-caa-go”

11. What are the characteristics of the Gambel’s quail?
Called desert quail due to preferred habitat.
Located in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas & Utah.
Found in arid or desert areas.
Prefers to live in brush close to water.

12. What are the characteristics of the Gambel’s quail?
Similar in appearance to the California Quail.
Male colorings
Differs from California by exhibiting a prominent black patch on a cream white belly and a reddish top knot.
Female colorings
cream white belly.
Both sexes exhibit forward sloping plume.
Call is similar to the California.

13. What are the characteristics of the Masked Bobwhite quail?
On endangered list.
Whistles “bobwhite” during breeding season.
Forms roosting circles at night.
Eats seeds, insects, and light greens.

14. What are the characteristics of the Masked Bobwhite quail?
Male coloring
head is black as if hooded by an executioner’s mask.
breast feathers are solid reddish-brown.
Female coloring
colored like other races.

15. What are the characteristics of the Mearns’ quail?
Called Montezuma or Harlequin quail.
Located in the Southwest from Southern Arizona to Texas and Mexico.
Prefers open woodland mountain slopes and grassy slopes.
May be found in the Gila forest area of NM.

16. What are the characteristics of the Mearns’ quail?
Male colorings
Has a distinctive harlequin marked face pattern.
Somewhat bug-eyed look.
Slight crest but not erect.
Heavy white spotting on flanks.
Female colorings
Duller, brown face
Both sexes are short tailed.
Call is a soft whistle similar to a screeched owl’s call.

17. What are the characteristics of the Mountain quail?
Largest of the North American quail.
Range is the most extensive in the Pacific Northwest.
Inhabits higher elevations where it prefers brush, scrub oaks and thickets.

18. What are the characteristics of the Mountain quail?
Male colorings
Chestnut throat colorations.
Female colorings
Duller in coloration.
Both sexes
A tall, thin, slightly backward tilting head plume.
Call is a whistle or loud, almost crowing note or soft “whook”.

19. What are the characteristics of the Scaled quail?
Often called blue quail.
Prefers to escape on foot.
When flushed does not fly far.
Located in Colorado, parts of Kansas, western Oklahoma, west Texas and the most numerous quail species in New Mexico.

20. What are the characteristics of the Scaled quail?
Habitat consists of arid country with sparse grasslands.
Scaled quail are grayish black with a scaled underside.
Both sexes
Similar looking.
No plume.
Instead they have a white topped crest extending from mid-head to rear of head.

21. What are the types of pheasants?
Ringneck
Phasianus colchicus
Imported from China in the 19th. Century.

22. What are the characteristics of the Ringneck Pheasant?
Popular bird for sport hunters.
Relatively large bird.
Distinct color and plumage.
Originally from China.
Prefers overgrown grassy fields, or corn fields near a creek bank.
Male colorings
Long tail.
Head with distinct green, black, and red feathers with a white collar.
Both sexes
Brownish and somewhat mottled coloration on their bodies.

23. What are the characteristics of Chukar Partridges?
Red-legged partridge.
Referred to as the “chukar”.
Identified by black band running across the forehead through the eyes, down the neck, and meeting between the white throat feathers and upper breast.
Lower breast and back are ash-gray.
Flanks are gray at the base and have two black bands at the tip.
Bill, legs, and feet are orange-red.
No obvious color differentiation between sexes.

24. Review / Summary What are the characteristics and types of quail?
What are the characteristics and types of pheasant?
What are the characteristics of chukar partridges?

25. The End!