Gambel’s quail (Callipepla gambelii) nest site selection and habitat use in Oracle Junction, Arizona

Gambel’s quail (Callipepla gambelii) is the most widespread, abundant, and heavily harvested species of game quail in Arizona. Gambel’s quail population dynamics in Arizona are strongly influenced by seasonal weather conditions. This is particularly relevant for Gambel’s quail management as drought conditions are expected to increase in Arizona, and this may exacerbate inter-annual variation in Gambel’s quail abundance and recruitment. The goal of this study is to provide information on Gambel’s quail population demographics, habitat use, and movement to inform land management decisions for Gambel’s quail in southeast Arizona in a way that mitigates the effect of drought. We used multiple trapping methods to capture Gambel’s quail from February–July 2024 and February–15 May 2025. We found noose mats (n = 57) to be more effective than drop traps (n=14) in capturing Gambel’s quail, with multiple types of walkin traps proving ineffective. We deployed 33 GPS backpack transmitters on female Gambel’s quail to monitor their movements and locate nests. We documented eight mortalities of tracked quail from apparent predation. Quail home range sizes ranged from 3 ha-100 ha (mean = 25 ha) in 2024 and from 7–57 ha (mean = 29 ha) in 2025. We identified four nest sites with 6-15 eggs and all nests were predated. We collected vegetation measurements at nest and brood sites and corresponding random points to examine nest and brood site selection although our small sample sizes limited our ability to make inferences about Gambel’s quail habitat selection.