Common quail
Coturnix coturnix
A small, cryptic grassland gamebird heard more often than seen. Confirmed in Georgia on the 2024 national bird checklist as a breeding bird, a passage migrant, and a winter visitor.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Seeds and insects
Status in Georgia
Breeding migrant, passage, winter visitor
Size
16–18 cm
Habitat
Crops, meadows, grassland
Family
Phasianidae
Conservation
LC
Human interaction: It is not venomous and is not a threat to people. Do not chase or catch wild birds without a permit. Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) and domestic hybrids are kept in captivity and may be released; they can look very similar — voice and context matter. Wild common quail meat is a traditional game food where hunting is legal; follow current Georgian hunting rules.
Overview
What is Common quail
The common quail (Coturnix coturnix) is a small migratory galliform in the pheasant family Phasianidae. The usual Georgian name is მწყერი. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia codes it BB; M; WV: a breeding bird absent from the breeding grounds in the non-breeding season, also a bird of passage, and also a winter visitor. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A). Occurrence quality is high (H), with photograph, sound recording, and hunter-collected evidence. Adults are about 16–18 cm long at species level. It is not a threat to people. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The 2024 checklist assigns the same category nationally. It is a regulated gamebird in Georgia, not a Red List species.
Last updated
Gallery
Common quail in photos
Photo: Christoph Moning
Fraunberg, Bavaria ·
Photo: Christoph Moning
Fraunberg, Bavaria ·
Photo: at0m
Beloyarskiy, Sverdlovsk Oblast ·
Photo: Christoph Moning
Wagenitz, Brandenburg ·
Identification
How to identify Common quail
A tiny, streaked brown gamebird of open fields. Usually heard first: the male’s three-note “wet-my-lips” whistle. When seen, look for pale back streaks, a pale eyebrow, and — in males — a dark throat mark. Confirmed in Georgia on the 2024 checklist as BB; M; WV.
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Length about 16–18 cm at species level; wingspan often about 32–35 cm; mass often about 70–140 g (heavier before migration). A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page. The body is plump and pear-shaped; the wings are longer than in many sedentary gamebirds. Upperparts are streaked brown and buff with pale cream longitudinal streaks; underparts are paler. Both sexes show a pale supercilium (eyebrow stripe) and a dark eye-line.
- 02
Males often show a blackish or dark central throat stripe or blotch (extent varies) and warmer tones on the face; females have a plainer, pale throat. Juveniles are like females. Birds keep hidden; a flushed bird shows whirring wings and a short, low flight before diving into cover again.
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Grey partridge (Perdix perdix) is much larger, with a rusty face and a dark belly blotch in adults; it is YR-R on the 2024 checklist. Chukar (Alectoris chukar) is a larger rock-slope bird with bold flank bars; YR-R. Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) chicks are streaked but grow into a long-tailed bird; YR-R — see the atlas pheasant page. Corncrake (Crex crex) is a rail of tall grass with a dry “crex-crex” call, not a quail whistle; BB; M. Japanese quail (C. japonica) is not on the wild Georgian checklist used here as a native species; escapees and releases can look almost identical — the advertising song differs. This atlas does not yet have separate pages for grey partridge, chukar, or corncrake.
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It is harmless. A three-note whistle from a cereal field or meadow in Georgia in late spring or summer is usually this species. Confirm with a clear view or recording if Japanese quail may have been released nearby.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
Look for it in open country with cover: cereal fields, clover and other crops, meadows, and grassy steppe. It stays on the ground and is usually found by ear, not by eye. The 2024 checklist confirms country-level breeding, migrant, and winter-visitor status but does not publish a municipality map. Do not assume it occurs evenly across Georgia, including closed forest or high alpine rock. Named Georgian locality with published sampling: Lewis et al. (2013) report tens of thousands of common quail migrating through the Alazani River Valley sampling area in September, moving from Eurasian Steppe breeding areas toward wintering grounds in the Middle East and East Africa. That Alazani / Kakheti evidence is coloured on this page. A separate national elevation band for Georgia is not published here; older Georgian hunting-site accounts speak of birds on mountain slopes and alpine meadows in summer when lowland crops are cut — treat that as unverified for this atlas until a peer-reviewed Georgian elevation series is compiled.
Diet
There is no separate weighed Georgian diet study on this page. At species level it takes seeds (including cereal gleanings and weed seeds) and invertebrates on the ground — beetles, bugs, ants, orthopterans and their larvae among others. It is a traditional gamebird in Georgia; hunting is regulated separately from Red List protection.
Behavior
It is secretive by day, walking in cover rather than flying. When flushed it rises with a whirring burst, flies low and fast on relatively long wings for a gamebird, then drops back into cover. The male’s advertising song is a far-carrying three-note whistle often rendered “wet-my-lips”, given mainly at dawn, dusk, and sometimes at night. The clip on this page is xeno-canto XC476230 (Jens Loose, Dresden): a nocturnal flight call, not the advertising song, and not a Georgian recording. Nesting is a shallow scrape on the ground in vegetation; species-level clutches are often about 8–13 eggs with incubation of about 17–20 days — those figures are from the wider range, not a Georgian nest sample on this page. The 2024 checklist treats the species as a breeder, a migrant, and a winter visitor in Georgia. Exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia are not tabulated here.
Conservation
BirdLife International assesses Coturnix coturnix as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, with a very large global range. The 2024 Georgian bird checklist assigns global and national category LC. Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190) does not list the common quail among the sources used here. Checklist evidence includes sound recording (SR) and hunter samples (CH), so regulated hunting is part of the documented Georgian picture. The Environmental Supervision Department’s published hunting seasons list Coturnix coturnix (მწყერი) from the fourth Saturday of August to 15 February, with a daily bag limit of 20 birds under the current posted rules — check the live DES notice for the year you hunt. Documented pressures at species level include intensive hunting on migration, agricultural change, and habitat loss; a measured Georgian population trend is not given on this page. Do not disturb nests or take birds outside legal seasons and permits.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Common quail.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia lists it as a confirmed breeding bird, passage migrant, and winter visitor (BB; M; WV).
In open fields, meadows, and crops in the breeding and migration seasons; some birds also winter. A published September migration concentration is documented in the Alazani River Valley. The 2024 checklist does not publish a regional gazetteer, so this page does not colour the whole country.
Small streaked brown gamebird with pale back streaks and a pale eyebrow. Males often have a dark throat mark. The male’s “wet-my-lips” whistle is the best field cue. Grey partridge and chukar are larger; corncrake has a different call.
About 16–18 cm long at species level, with a wingspan often given as about 32–35 cm and mass about 70–140 g. A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page.
Seeds and ground invertebrates. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
As a breeding migrant, passage migrant, and winter visitor according to the 2024 checklist. Exact Georgian arrival and departure dates are not tabulated here. Heavy September passage is documented in the Alazani Valley.
Yes. BB on the 2024 checklist means breeding bird. Named nest sites inside Georgia are not listed on this page.
It is harmless. It is globally Least Concern and coded LC nationally on the 2024 checklist. It is not on the 2014 Georgian Red List. It is a legal gamebird in season under current DES rules; follow permits and bag limits.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- Lewis et al. 2013 — Avian Influenza Virus Surveillance in Wild Birds in Georgia (PLOS ONE)
- BirdLife DataZone / IUCN — Common Quail (Least Concern)
- IOC World Bird List
- Avibase — Georgia bird checklist
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- გარემოსდაცვითი ზედამხედველობის დეპარტამენტი — ნადირობის სეზონი
- eBird — Common Quail
- Birds of the World — Common Quail
- Wikimedia Commons — Fraunberg 1 (Christoph Moning, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Fraunberg 2 (Christoph Moning, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Beloyarskiy flight (at0m, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Wagenitz (Christoph Moning, CC BY 4.0)
- xeno-canto XC476230 — Coturnix coturnix (Jens Loose, CC BY-NC-SA)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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