{"id":55331,"date":"2018-12-18T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55331"},"modified":"2024-10-11T05:09:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T10:09:27","slug":"male-california-quail-close-up-seeing-and-appreciating-the-fine-feather-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/18\/male-california-quail-close-up-seeing-and-appreciating-the-fine-feather-details\/","title":{"rendered":"Male California Quail Close Up – Seeing And Appreciating The Fine Feather Details"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale California Quail close up – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Anytime I am able to take a close up or a portrait of a wild bird without stressing it I relish the opportunity because the images can show the exquisite details of the fine plumage of the face of the subject that photos taken from a longer distance away just can’t show as well.<\/p>\n

Four days ago I was able to take close up photos of a handsome male California Quail in beautiful light while he perched on a fence rail as he looked directly towards me. I love that I can almost count the individual brownish feathers above his bill and each of the white-tipped feathers of his nape along with being able to see the separation of the soft gray feathers of his upper breast. The scaly looking feathers on his breast? They are gorgeous. Being able to see all of those fine details in an image helps me appreciate the beauty of this species even more than I already do.<\/p>\n

Side note<\/em>… I will be moving my site to a new, faster server before the end of December. There may be a period of time when my site is unreachable while the DNS repopulates throughout the internet so I wanted to share that information now before it occurs. If my site is unreachable, please try again later. Because I have been blogging for so long my site is huge and it is going to take time for me to move the files to the new server.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my California Quail photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four days ago I was able to take close up photos of a handsome male California Quail in beautiful light while he perched on a fence rail as he looked directly towards me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1203,1022,26],"tags":[4004,970,6264,6263,4142,4620,4062,4094,4046,6265,4147,373],"class_list":["post-55331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-california-quails","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-california-quail","tag-callipepla-californica","tag-close-up","tag-fall","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-portrait","tag-quail","tag-upland-game-bird","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/california-quail-male-close-up-mia-mcpherson-4341.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eor","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54792,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/10\/27\/more-california-quail-in-my-viewfinder\/","url_meta":{"origin":55331,"position":0},"title":"More California Quail In My Viewfinder","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I photographed a small covey of California Quail, this the second time this month that I have seen and photographed these small upland game birds that have wiggly, little head plumes.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male California Quail running in morning light, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-male-running-mia-mcpherson-4146.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-male-running-mia-mcpherson-4146.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-male-running-mia-mcpherson-4146.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-male-running-mia-mcpherson-4146.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55080,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/21\/november-california-quail-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":55331,"position":1},"title":"November California Quail In Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I think that both male and female California Quail are striking birds with their head plumes, facial feather patterns, earth toned plumage and scaled underparts so whenever I see them I want to photograph them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffed up female and male California Quail, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/california-quail-male-female-mia-mcpherson-1246.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/california-quail-male-female-mia-mcpherson-1246.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/california-quail-male-female-mia-mcpherson-1246.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/california-quail-male-female-mia-mcpherson-1246.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/31\/autumn-california-quail-covey\/","url_meta":{"origin":55331,"position":2},"title":"Autumn California Quail Covey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While walking along the Jordan River yesterday, I came upon a covey of about 25 California Quail. I was able to get close enough to photograph a few of them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"California Quail male and fall leaves, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/california-quail-autumn-mia-mcpherson-3056.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/california-quail-autumn-mia-mcpherson-3056.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/california-quail-autumn-mia-mcpherson-3056.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/california-quail-autumn-mia-mcpherson-3056.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49709,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/06\/winter-views-of-california-quail-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":55331,"position":3},"title":"Winter Views of California Quail in Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I was able to photograph several California Quail in snow yesterday in Davis County, Utah and I was also able to listen to at least one male calling.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male California Quail running in snow, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/california-quail-snow-male-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/california-quail-snow-male-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/california-quail-snow-male-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/california-quail-snow-male-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55283,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/14\/roosting-male-california-quail-yawning\/","url_meta":{"origin":55331,"position":4},"title":"Roosting Male California Quail Yawning","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One male California Quail turned his head and through my viewfinder I could see him yawning and this was the only photo I got of him where I could see his entire face and eyes at a good angle.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male California Quail yawning, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-quail-male-yawning-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-quail-male-yawning-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-quail-male-yawning-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/california-quail-male-yawning-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49979,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/19\/urban-birds-california-quail-at-a-local-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":55331,"position":5},"title":"Urban Birds – California Quail at a Local Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It isn't uncommon to see California Quail crossing sidewalks, roads and trails in the city and this photo reminded me of how well this species has adapted to living in urban areas.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male California Quail crossing a sidewalk, Salt Lake County, 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