Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii) female, drinking, Sonoran Desert, Arizona. Gambel's Quail are pear-shaped birds with short legs and roundish wings. Both sexes are gray above and buff below, with white-straked russet sides. Females have a less prominent head plume (called a "topknot") than the males, and lack the males' black coloration and red head cap. Gambel's Quail range from the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Mexico to New Mexico, Texas, Utah and western California.