Restoration Efforts Underway to Save California Quail

Photo courtesy of National Audobon Society

by Ryder W. Miller

Renewed restoration efforts are underway across the City to protect and perpetuate the endangered California Quail (Callipepla Californica), the official San Francisco and state bird.

Local Golden Gate Audubon Societies have created a Save the Quail Campaign which includes a Restore-A-Thon: "a large-scale effort to restore quail habitat at Lake Merced's Harding Park and at the Presidio." The San Francisco Zoo also plans to establish a captive-breeding program to introduce new quail into city parks.

At the Restore-A-Thon held Nov. 15, more than 70 people participated in creating two new restoration sites at the Presidio and at Harding Park. More than $3,000 was raised and more than 250 plants were planted at Harding Park.

Alan Hopkins, former president of the Golden Gate Chapter of the Audubon Society, was happy to see so many concerned people at the November Restore-A-Thon.

"It's heartwarming that we could get so many people interested in the birds and to realize that cities are not just parking lots and movie theaters," Hopkins said. "People like them. People can relate to them."

As of July 2000, California Quail were no longer found to reside at Lincoln Park, Lake Merced, Harding Park, Stern Grove and Pine Lake Park.

"It's pretty dire," said Hopkins, who is spearheading the Save the Quail Campaign.

Quail have only been found in San Francisco in low numbers – small populations are present in Golden Gate Park (4), the Presidio (roughly 20), and in unknown numbers at the Olympic Club, located south of Lake Merced.

"We've been able to track their decline over the last 20 years," said Dan Murphy, a Sunset District resident and compiler of the Annual Christmas Bird Count for the Golden Gate Chapter of the Audubon Society.

The ornate bird is not easily described. The California Quail is a small, plump gray bird with a dark brown head and a short plume. Its breast is blue-gray, the belly is scaled and its brownish-gray flank has streaks. California Quails can fly quickly when frightened but they spend most of their time on the ground. The males have a larger crown feather than females.

The California Quail eats plant parts, seeds and insects. Baby quail are born on the ground and do not learn to fly for at least a week. When ready, they roost in the trees with the remainder of the flock, which lives in coveys of 10 to 200 birds.

The California Quail (along with the California Condor) were the first two California birds to be given scientific names. The California Quail was adopted as the state bird on June 12, 1931. The California Quail, also called the Valley Quail, can be found from southern Oregon to southern California and east into Nevada. They prefer areas with lots of brush, like grasslands, foothills, canyons, woodlands and desert edges. Quail were once killed by market hunters in large numbers and were a food source for native Americans.

They were once abundant in San Francisco and Golden Gate Park (1,500 estimated in the park at one time), but feral cats and dwindling cover are blamed for the quail's dwindling numbers.

The streams and coastal scrub areas of San Francisco provided the food, water and cover to support a healthy quail population. But due to the removal of the city's remaining brushy areas, the quail population declined. Today fewer than 100 remain in San Francisco.

Hopkins described the California Quail as an umbrella species – when habitat is protected for them, habitat is also protected for other local wildlife, including sparrows, swallows, lizards and butterflies.

California Quail has also fallen prey to urban wildlife generalists, like raccoons, blue jays, ravens and skunks.

"It's a 1 – 2 punch," Hopkins said. "Those species are increasing in number and places for the quail to nest are getting taken away."

Hopkins pointed out that the public spends a lot of money restoring monuments and he says the public should think of the California Quail as a monument. The Short-Tailed Albatross is treated so in Japan.

Other birds facing possible extirpation (local disappearance) in San Francisco are the Wrentit, Western Screech Owl, Spotted Towhee and the migrant Olive-Sided Flycatcher.

"There are a whole host of birds that are just about gone," said Hopkins. "It is a real failure of the City if we are losing all these species."

Hopkins recommends that the public fill in their backyards with plants that can support the bird life that has lost habitat due to urban encroachment. Hopkins also said volunteers are needed for the restoration efforts. The Golden Gate Audubon Society can be reached at (510) 843-2222.

In related news, birders recently spotted a King Eider in San Francisco Bay, off Land's End. Dan Murphy is waiting for the results of the city's annual bird count, which took place Dec. 30, to confirm some of the other unusual sightings in the area.