>While at Mount St. Helen's last week - at the lake near the New
>Visitor's Center at the end of the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway, I
>heard quail calling in the shrubs very close to the path. They >didn't
sound like California Quail and I wondered if it were possible >these
were Mountain Quail.....Naturally, they didn't come out where I >could
get a good look at them. Are Mt. Quail possible here..?
>
>Thanks, Karen Juenemann at Zymo

I don't think Mountain Quail would be up there, Karen, from what I know of
their distribution in Washington. They are very locally distributed in the
lowlands, mostly associated with logged areas. But I wouldn't have
expected California Quail up there either, so it's puzzling. And one more
puzzle: how did you know they were quail if they weren't California Quail?

Mountain Quail is so named because it occurs at higher elevations at the
southern end of its range in California. In WA, it is a lowland species.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416


To me, they sounded like quail....but not exactly like California ...which I had
in my yard in San Diego, and have in the brambles behind where I live now in
MtLake Terrace....What other birds sound like that?

Karen