Callipepla squamata
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The scaled quail (Callipepla squamata), also commonly called blue quail or cottontop, is a species of the New World quail family. It is a bluish gray bird found in the arid regions of the Southwestern United States to Central Mexico. This species is an early offshoot of the genus Callipepla, diverging in the Pliocene.
The nest is typically a grass-lined hollow containing 9–16 speckled eggs. When disturbed, it prefers to run rather than fly. Widespread and common throughout its range, the scaled quail is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Scaled quail occur from south-central Arizona, northern New Mexico, east-central Colorado, and southwestern Kansas south through western Oklahoma and western and central Texas into Mexico to northeastern Jalisco, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Hidalgo, and western Tamaulipas. It has been introduced to Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and to the United States in Hawaii, central Washington, eastern Nevada, and Nebraska, but is only considered established in central Washington and eastern Nevada.
Scaled quail has formed several subspecies, 3 of which range into the USA: Callipepla... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Guadalupe Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ecological Center of Sonora | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 2 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Avifauna | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Scaled Quail sighting in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 226th most-seen of the 275 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Scaled Quail in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scaled Quail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Scaled Quail sightings, Cumbres de Monterrey National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Big Bend National Park (United States, about 20%) and Guadalupe Mountains National Park (United States, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scaled Quail is recorded against all the birds logged in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (13 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
