Quail (Masked Bobwhite)

One of Arizona’s most famous birds, the masked bobwhite quail was saved from extinction by the Endangered Species Act.

The known range of the masked bobwhite in the United States includes the Altar and Santa Cruz valleys in Arizona. The masked bobwhite was first identified in 1884 and was recognized as highly endangered just a short while later.

In 1985, Arizona’s Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, containing approximately 118,000 acres of savannah grassland in the Altar Valley, was created for the masked bobwhite. It contains the only population of the birds in the United States.

Photographed at Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, AZ