Range Resident from southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and western Nevada south to southern Baja California. Established through introductions in southern British Columbia, Washington, western Idaho, and Utah, as well as Chile, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany.

Status Introduced. Uncommon to locally common resident on southern Vancouver Island and in the southern interior. Very rare in the Fraser Lowlands and Creston valleys. Breeds throughout its range.

Status Change  No change.

Nonbreeding On the south coast, the California Quail is distributed primarily along the east coast of Vancouver Island from Victoria north to Comox (rarely farther north). It may be extirpated in the Fraser Lowlands. In the interior, it is found from the southern Okanagan valley north to Vernon; it is very rare elsewhere in the southern interior and in the Creston valley. The California Quail frequents a variety of open habitats from near sea level to 1,000 m elevation. It is usually associated with man. On the coast, habitats include shrubland dominated by blackberry thickets or broom, residential gardens, parks, golf courses, farmland, and powerline rights-of-way. Interior habitats include orchards, residential gardens, riparian thickets, and brushy gullies. By mid-August, adults and young have begun to gather in larger flocks; however, the largest numbers occur in winter as quail congregate in coveys of occasionally over 100 birds. Unusually cold winters can reduce quail numbers considerably; R.A. Cannings et al. (1987) describe the effects of a severe winter (1968-1969) on a quail population of about 300 birds. Even though the birds frequented some of the best quail habitats in the Okanagan valley, the combined effects of low temperatures and heavy snowfall reduced that population to about 30 birds by the end of February.

Breeding Nests Eggs Young The California Quail breeds throughout most of its provincial range from near sea level to 900 m elevation. On the coast, it breeds on Vancouver Island from Sooke and Victoria north to Port Alberni and Comox, and locally in the Fraser River delta. In the interior, it breeds locally near Creston, throughout the Okanagan valley north to Salmon Arm, and locally near Clinton. On the coast, its centre of breeding abundance is the Victoria area north to the Saanich Peninsula; in the interior, it is most abundant in the Okanagan valley, especially from Summerland south. The California Quail frequents a variety of open habitats, including farmland (orchards, pastureland, rangeland, cultivated fields, hayfields), rural and urban residential gardens, city parks, and, to a lesser extent open ponderosa pine forests, deciduous bottomland, sagebrush flats, ravines, riparian woodland and shrubland.

Nests:  Of 42 nests, most were hidden under or among vegetation, including shrubs (38%; blackberry, Scotch broom, juniper, rhododendron), grasses and herbaceous plants (21%), and trees. Ring-necked Pheasant nests were used on 3 occasions. Other sites included under brush piles, logs, and lumber piles. One nest was found under a rock overhang on a mossy cliff, one was under a newspaper (Cannings, R.A. et al. 1987) and another was adjacent to a fencepost in a pasture. All nests were situated in slight depressions on the ground. Materials were principally grasses (57%; n=28), occasionally with mixtures of leaves (29%), twigs, rootlets, or needles. Two nests were made of leaves only. Eggs: Dates for 76 clutches ranged from 5 March (coastal) and 6 April (interior) to 4 September with 51% recorded between 16 May and 3 July. Clutch size ranged from 1 to 26 eggs (1E-4, 2E-2, 3E-1, 4E-1, 5E-2, 6E-2, 7E-1, 8E-3, 9E-4, 10E-5, 11E-6, 12E-6, 13E-9, 14E-8, 15E-4, 16E-4, 17E-2, 18E-4, 19E-2, 20E-4, 23E-1, 26E-1) with 50% having 10 to 15 eggs. The nest with 23 eggs, as well as the one with 26 eggs, was observed being tended by a single female although the clutches were likely the products of two females. One nest, found at Westholme on 3 June 1955, contained 20 to 30 eggs and was being incubated by 2 females. After the eggs hatched, the hens divided the eggs between them. A male incubated the eggs in one Okanagan nest; this sometimes occurs if the female dies (Harrison, C. 1978). Two nests from British Columbia indicate that the incubation period is 21 to 23 days (see Lewin 1963). Based on the large range of egg dates, it is reasonable to assume that a number of the records are of second clutches or renestings, but none were documented as such. R.A. Cannings et al. (1987) note a second peak in hatching for Okanagan nests, suggesting second nestings or double broods (also see Anthony, R. 1970). Young: Dates for 537 broods ranged from 18 May to 17 October with 55% between 14 July and 15 August. Calculated dates suggest that young can occasionally be out by early April. Brood size ranged from 1 to 22 young (1Y-16, 2Y-28, 3Y-14, 4Y-21, 5Y-36, 6Y-53, 7Y-27, 8Y-60, 9Y-38, 10Y-65, 11Y-41, 12Y-52, 13Y-18, 14Y-21, 15Y-24, 16Y-12, 17Y-2, 18Y-3, 20Y-4, 21Y-1, 22Y-1) with 52% having 7 to 12 young. Young can flutter short distances at 10 days (Harrison, C. 1978).

Remarks California Quail were first introduced to British Columbia near Victoria in the early 1860s (Carl and Guiguet 1972). Introductions were later made to the Fraser River delta (1890), Nicola (1908), the Queen Charlotte Islands (1910), and South Pender Island (about 1910). In the Okanagan valley, quail were first introduced near Penticton in 1912, although a male had been sighted the previous year at Cosens Bay, just south o f Vernon (Lewin 1965). That hird may have been from the Nicola introductions or was possibly a colonizer from introductions in northern Washington (see Munro, J.A. and Cowan 1947). California Quail were also introduced near Grand Forks in April 1957 (McKay 1957), several times to the Creston-Lister area (Butler, R.W. et al. 1986), and to the Vanderhoof area (Carl and Guiguet 1972).