California Quail (Callipepla californica) are an attractive little introduced gamebird. They are widespread in New Zealand and I often see them when photographing birds at Lake Okareka. The typical male “Chi-ca-go” call is easy to recognise and I have heard it in our suburban garden despite not having seen the birds.

Being small, plump and beautifully patterned they make great photographic subjects but being small, fast moving and wary they can be difficult to approach and isolate against a pleasing background.

A recent stop at the Auckland Botanic Gardens in search of spring cherry blossoms was unsuccessful from a floral perspective (too early) but gave me an unexpected bonus of some lovely California Quail images. I often see them in the Desert Garden area and encountered a single pair on this visit. Anticipating their behaviour and moving slowly I managed to get a few images with a low, eye-level viewpoint, decent backgrounds and some out of focus foreground elements to help isolate the birds.

For more information on these little birds see their page on New Zealand Birds Online which includes one of my photos taken along the Tongariro River some years back.

Photos with Nikon D850 and Nikon 500mm f5.6PF lens