California Quail Feeding Upon Acorns
California Quail Feeding upon Acorns
In his report on the life history of the California Quail (Lophortyx californica) Sumner (Calif. Fish and Game, 21, 1935, p. 191) reported observations which led him to conclude that this bird rarely, if ever, eats acorns. At the same time he demonstrated that quail tend to develop taste for certain foods locally and that sometimes they are slow to change from one preferred food to another. In view of these conclusions I was especially interested in the following observations which I was able to make in December, 1934. For several days I noticed that a covey of twenty or more quail foraged across a vacant lot next to my home at the north boundary of Berkeley, California.
At this time the lot was nearly bare of vegetation except for a single live-oak (Quercus agrifolia) growing near its margin. Beneath this tree the ground was rather thickly littered with acorns. Each day as the covey of quail moved across the area, it was plain that they were attracted to the acorns as food. All the birds appeared to be busy picking at the thin shells which they seemed to crush before picking up the contents, rather than attempting to swallow the acorns whole. The daily return of the birds to this spot for a long period indicated that they came by choice to get this kind of food-that it was not just an isolated example of a freakish occurrence. It may be that quail feed upon live-oak acorns often when they are available.
Jean M. Linsdale
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Califoma, Berkeley, February 15, 1936
