Oreortyx pictus
Silhouette: Gabriela Palomo-Munoz · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus) is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. This species is the only one in the genus Oreortyx, which is sometimes included in Callipepla. This is not appropriate, however, as the mountain quail's ancestors diverged from other New World quails earlier than the bobwhites, no later than 6 mya.
The bird's average length is 26–28 cm (10–11 in), with a wingspan of 35–40 cm (14–16 in). They have relatively short, rounded wings and long, featherless legs. These birds are easily recognized by their topknots, which are shorter in the female and change color with the seasons and geographic location of particular populations. They have a brown face, gray breast, brown back and primaries, and heavily white barred underside. Females display greater brown coloring on their dorsal side, a paler red on their undersides, and wider white barring on the flank than their male counterparts. Mountain quails lose the multi-color primary coverts on their wings as they age, and by 15 months old will only have solid-colored coverts.
There are five recognized subspecies: It inhabits mountainous... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Joshua Tree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Quail sighting in Death Valley National Park on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 199th most-seen of the 213 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Quail in Death Valley National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months. That is one of Death Valley National Park's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 30 mm in March.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mountain Quail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Mountain Quail sightings, Death Valley National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Yosemite National Park (United States, about 20%) and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mountain Quail is recorded against all the birds logged in Death Valley 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.
