Montezuma Quail

Montezuma quail go by several names — Mearns' quail, harlequin quail, fool quail — and that's where that last one comes from: rather than flush when danger's close, this small, stocky, short-tailed quail tends to freeze and crouch motionless instead. Males wear a bold black-and-white harlequin face pattern, a single tan plume flattened over the crown, and blue-gray sides dotted white; females are plainer, in mottled buff and brown. Long, sickle-shaped claws are built for digging, and the bird puts them to work unearthing the tubers and bulbs that make up much of its diet, alongside seeds and insects. Home is mainly oak-grassland and pine-oak woodland across Mexico, with a few isolated pockets reaching north into the southwestern United States.