The Scaled Quail, also known as the Blue Quail or Cottontop (owing to the distinctive white top-knot on its crest), is a familiar game bird of the desert grasslands of Mexico and the southwestern United States. Groups of Scaled Quail scurry through the desert grasslands of the southwestern United States, calling softly to each other to stay in contact. These elegant brownish-gray birds have an understated crest with a buffy top and a marvelous pattern of dark brown and gray-buff on the breast and belly. When encountering people or predators, the birds dash away through the brush, or else fly a short distance and reassemble.

The Gambel’s Quail is a small ground-dwelling bird in the new world Quail family. Found in the desert areas of the South-west of the Northern American continent, these birds can be found gathering along brushy washes and cactus-studded arroyos to feed. One interesting physical feature about these birds is the bobbing black topknot of feathers that both the female and male birds sport. Gambel’s Quail can be distinguished from a similar species, California Quail because of the male bird’s very significant black belly patch.