It looks like a cross between a blue and a bob to me. My guess is that it was a blue rooster and a hen bobwhite.

Mearns hen

scaled quail

Sure looks like some kind of a blue quail hybrid. I have seen, on several occasions what looked to me like a blue quail/bobwhite cross where both species were found, namely out west of Hebbronville. This bird doesn't quite look like they did, but what do I know?
Those birds were moving with bobwhite coveys, and exhibited a dusky blue hue on their breast.

Bill Oxner & Pointer are correct. It's a blob. These photos were taken by a friend of mine that has a ranch in Starr County. I sent the photos to Dr. Fidel Hernandez with the CKWRI Quail Program and he confirmed the hybridization.

Below is Dr. Hernandez's answer to the question.

"Yes, hybridization between blues and bobs has been reported in the literature. Their occurrence is rare but does seems to happen. Rates of occurrence of “blobs” range from 1-70 blobs for every 1,000 bobwhites sampled"

Cool looking bird.

Okay, I'll help keep Charles' aka Buster's thread going. Does anyone know why I guessed that it was a blue rooster, and a bob hen?

C'mon, tell us Mr. Bill. Enquiring minds gotta know!

It is a scaled quail.



LINK

Logic tells me that it was a blue rooster, and a bobwhite hen. It's not natural, so it had to be rape. I don't think a bobwhite rooster could run down and catch a blue hen.

Great pics!

Where I grew up we had more these quail than any other. They are Scaled Quail.

Very Cool looking birds. We have harvested several in past years in West Tx. And I will guess why you said a Blue male on a Bob Female. Because Bobwhite males can't run fast enough to breed a Blue Quail hen!

These are not scaled quail...they are "blobs" which are a scaled (blue) quail/bobwhite hybrid. See my earlier email where I listed Dr.Fidel Hernandez quote.

Thanks Charles for the superb photos and complete details. Very beautiful.

no way a bob rooster can run fast enough to catch a blue hen..

How do they fare on the table?
How are they at survival?

Thanks for the story Charles. Never seen the hybrid cross. Don't have to worry about it now, we have not had an blues for several years now.

I am sure you guys know that it was tongue in cheek.

No comment....

A friend asked the question about reproduction in this quail specie. I sent the question to Dr. Hernandez and here's his reply..."It seems that female hybrids may not be fertile. They tend to produce abnormally small eggs, which usually show no embryonic development. However, a few backcrosses with males of the parental species have hatched."

I'm going with scaled.

Beautiful birds, I've never seen any like this