Tales from the garden: California quails

February 2026

Despite being a bird of open scrubland, California quail are well established in Chatswood on the North Shore of Auckland and can often be seen on the grass verges close to Chelsea and Kauri Point Centennial Parks.

Where I have never seen them is up on a house roof. I knew they liked to call from up on fences, and the one that ventured to the old house in Hillcrest sat upon a metal bird mounted on a fence, but I guess Birkenhead quails think they would make cute, fluffy gargoyles perching on the ridge tiles.

The male California quail that found its way to Hillcrest, November 2023

I noticed the first one on the fence last weekend after dinner. With their round shape they are unmistakeable and I could see there was a small number of birds grazing on next door's sloping lawn. It turned out it was a male, a female and a baby quail on the fence looking through binoculars and that proved irresistible. I tried to get closer by making my way to the butterfly garden, but it is hard to tiptoe in gardening boots on the decking boardwalk and the blackbirds scarpering had the quails moving away from the border of our properties and out of sight.

After failing to get closer to the quails from the butterfly garden, I went to water some potted plants around the house and was gob-smacked to catch movement on the roof. How they got up there I have no idea. I live in a two-storey house and the garden is a further storey down because of the steep slope down to the stream. I thought they were ground birds, flying low like other game birds, but preferring to simply run out of danger. I had no clue they had a head for heights and were powerful enough flyers to make it up there. Even as I watched a number of birds fly from the roof, over my head, over the tree line on the property's border and back into next door's garden, their wings still looked too small for their body size, like fuzzy, flying footballs.

Having seen both individual birds and coveys nearby close to the reserves, I had hoped that they would wander into the garden at some point, but months went by and they were happy to bypass our place. I even have ceramic California quail heading across the butterfly garden border, bought in Golden Bay after a holiday seeing the quail by the beach there. I love their colouring. That chest plumage is stunning and with their heads topped off with the equivalent of a fascinator, they are a very stylish bird.

The quails returned early one morning a couple of days later and I was alerted by the distinctive call, "to-bac-co". This time the fence was good enough. I hope they become a regular feature of the garden birdlife and not a fleeting visit like the kaka. Watch this space.