Common Quail
Coturnix coturnix
Also known as: Quail, Guatlla
Habitat
Ground
Diet
PlantSeed
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
96 g
About This Species
This small, secretive gamebird is far more often heard than seen, giving a distinctive rolling wet-my-lips call from dense grass and cereal fields across its Old World range. It walks rather than flies when possible and only flushes explosively at very close range, so the best approach is to listen at dawn or dusk in summer breeding grounds rather than trying to spot it by sight. Migratory populations arrive on breeding fields in late spring and depart in autumn.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep to field margins and tracks rather than walking through standing crop or grass where a pair may be nesting on the ground, since eggs and chicks are easily trampled without being seen.
- Hunting and protection rules for this species differ considerably between European, Middle Eastern, and African range states, so do not assume one country's regulations apply elsewhere.
- If you hear a bird calling nearby, the cautious approach is to move away rather than closer, since ground nests are highly vulnerable to disturbance.
LCAvesGalliformesPhasianidae
Seasonal Activity
392,388 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Phasianidae
Traits
- Diet
- PlantSeed
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 96 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.