State Birds
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California Symbols
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California State Bird
California Valley Quail
(Lophortyx californica or
Callipepla californica)
Adopted on on June 12, 1931.
The California quail, Callipepla californica, also known as the valley quail or Lophortyx californica vallicola (Name used by Dickey), became the official state bird of California in on June 12, 1931.
The Audubon Society selected the valley quail as an appropriate symbol of California and recommended its official adoption to the California Legislature. The act went into effect on August 14, 1931.
California Codes, Government Code, Title 1, Division 2, Chapter 2, Section 420-429.7.
GOVERNMENT CODE
TITLE 1. GENERAL.
DIVISION 2. STATE SEAL, FLAG, AND EMBLEMS.
CHAPTER 2. STATE FLAG AND EMBLEMS.
SECTION 420-429.7
423. The California valley quail (Lophortyx californica) is the official bird and avifaunal emblem of the State.
Description of the California State Bird
A widely distributed and prized game bird, it is known for its hardiness and adaptability. Plump, gray-colored and smaller than a pigeon, the California quail sports a downward curving black plume on top of its head and black bib with white stripe under the beak. Flocks number from a few to 60 or more in the fall and winter months, but in the spring break into pairs. They nest in hollows scratched in the ground and concealed by foliage, and their eggs, 6 to 28 in number, are creamy white and thickly spotted with golden brown.
Taxonomic Hierarchy
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| Kingdom |
Animalia -- animals |
| Phylum |
Chordata -- chordates |
| Subphylum |
Vertebrata -- vertebrates |
| Class |
Aves -- birds |
| Order |
Galliformes -- fowls, gallinaceous birds |
| Family |
Odontophoridae |
| Genus |
Callipepla Wagler, 1832 -- crested quails |
| Species |
Callipepla californica (Shaw, 1798) -- California quail, Codorniz californiana
Lophortyx californica vallicola (Name used by Dickey) |
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Official State Birds
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Bird:
a. Any of the class Aves of warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form wings.
b. Such an animal hunted as game.
c. Such an animal, especially a chicken or turkey, used as food
State Bird:
a. Bird selected (as by the legislature) as an emblem of a state of the United States.
NOTE: Many states have more than one official bird, or have designate state birds more specifically.
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