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I thought I’d do a quick guide to understanding how Coturnix quail talk. they’re generally very quiet birds, but knowing their sounds can be helpful!
at their calmest while foraging and resting, they’re nearly silent and occasionally let out a faint peep or chirp
at their calmest while foraging and resting, they’re nearly silent and occasionally let out a faint peep or chirp
the next most common sound is their cricket-like contact calls. they do this when they’re trying to locate a friend after a disturbance, or to broadcast their location to another quail that they can’t see. oftentimes 2 or 3 will make the sound in unison
the crow is a sound made only by males. depending on the individual, males will crow as much as every couple minutes or not at all, but generally only during breeding season. it’s much quieter than a chicken rooster’s crow, but can be startling if you’re very close to him
a young, tired, or injured male might garble his crowing. the exact sound of a crow can vary quite a bit, perhaps some males never outgrow their warbling voice
territorial chattering is generally accompanied by pecks and a hunched back. generally, they do this to defend a special food source or dust bath spot from a newcomer to the flock, but scuffles break out very often among established flocks as well
Pebble was particularly nasty towards hands and any quail that jumped or flew. her aggressive chattering was unlike anything I’ve heard from the others, maybe a similar noise is used when defending a nest (although she didn’t defend her eggs at all)
the only other time I’ve heard something similar was this particularly vicious male, he’s defending his dust bath from another boy here. only around 4 weeks old, already so full of aggression & hormones
tidbitting is a noise used by males to attract a female to a treat, which he will pick up and feed to her. females may also make a much higher pitched tidbit like Dusty does, usually out of confusion rather than a desire to share—she runs off with her prize
a mild threat or scare like a flying songbird, another quail acting strangely, or a dog barking, will elicit a quiet, trilling alarm call, generally only from a few individuals who freeze in place. they often return to business as usual right after the threat passes
a more severe threat, like a hawk swooping at the coop, will make them all freeze in place. nearly every quail will repeat a louder danger alarm call while watching the threat until it passes.
the “urgent” call as I call it is often used to signal a hen is looking for a place to lay, but can also be given when trying to find food or when a quail is stuck. Nutmeg here is trying to locate the dust bath box to lay her egg
quail hens will “egg song” right before or after laying eggs. Boots is giving an especially spectacular display since her drive to nest suddenly kicked in after laying an egg, she didn’t sit on them for more than a few minutes (quail generally don’t go broody)
and lastly, while it isn’t a vocalization, quail sneeze more than you’d think after dust bathing or drinking water too quickly.
I’ll add to this if I notice any more “words” in their vocabulary!
I’ll add to this if I notice any more “words” in their vocabulary!
