Gary -

Mountain Quail were released in 2006 along Asotin Creek and on Craig
Mountain Idaho across the Snake R. (see -
http://www.wildidahonews.com/pages/article.asp?article=19). They have
apparently persisted although I don't know the current status of the
populations. It's certainly possible that birds from these populations are
dispersing a bit (they have somewhat regularly been found along Asotin
Creek). Also prior to this release there were occasional reports from the
area of the confluence of the Snake and Salmon Rivers (an area that is
fairly very difficult to reach) so it's possible there is a small
population persisting along the Snake near the Oregon border. I don't know
if there are any recent sightings from Oregon - someone else on the list
might know. I'll pass along your report to the DFW regional wildlife
biologist Paul Wik, I'm sure he would be interested in any MOQU reports and
could provide more up to date information.

Charles.

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 3:23 PM, Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dear Tweeters,
>
> On April 4, 2012, I saw a bird that I believe was a Mountain Quail. This
> was in Asotin County, WA, about a mile or less up the Green Gulch Trail,
> Chief Joseph Wildlife Area (Opperman pages 522f).
>
> Lower down along this trail, in more open, cattle-grazing country, I found
> a few California Quail, after having seen lots more along Joseph Creek just
> below. However, after I had hiked for several hundred meters and detected
> no more California Quail, I heard some cluckish vocalizations which I
> didn't recognize. I'd been seeing and hearing California Quail many times a
> day for four days at this point, and don't think that these calls sounded
> like any of the California Quail calls that I know.
>
> A moment later, a dark-looking quail flew right in front of me, crossing
> from a steep rocky area on my left to a brushy creekbed to my right. I
> could not relocate the bird, and heard no more of the vocalizations. The
> look I had was too brief for me to fix on any field marks, but the bird had
> to be either a Mountain or a California Quail.
>
> For those who know this area, the bird was right by a very large pine
> tree. This tree is on the right side of the trail as one goes uphill (i.e.
> on the south side of the trail), and has an active Red-tailed Hawk nest in
> it. It's probably the biggest pine along this section of trail, hard to
> miss. I think it's about a mile up the dirt road/trail, measuring from the
> Joseph Creek Road--but on a steep trail, one might tend to overestimate
> distances. A bit beyond this spot, the trail forks, with the right fork
> going up to a new cattle trough.
>
> I understand that the Mountain Quail was once found here, but that it
> hasn't been seen here for a while. I found no eBird records for this
> species in this area.
>
> Any information on the status of the species in that area would be
> appreciated.
>
> Yours truly,
>
> Gary Bletsch
>
>
> Gary Bletsch Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA
> garybletsch at yahoo.com "Nun," sagte ich, "wenn ich ein Taugenichts bin, so
> ist's gut, so will ich in die Welt gehen, und mein Glueck machen." Und
> eigentlich war mir das recht lieb, denn es war mir kurz vorher selber
> eingefallen, auf Reisen zu gehen, da ich die Goldammer, welche im Herbst
> und Winter immer betruebt an unserm Fenster sang: "Bauer, miet' mich,
> Bauer, miet' mich!" nun in der schoenen Fruehlingszeit wieder ganz stolz
> und lustig vom Baume rufen hoerte: "Bauer, behalt' deinen Dienst!"
>
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>



--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_Idaho>
46?43?54? N, 116?59?50? W
email: chaetura at gmail.com
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