Seems like it. I’ve had 5 “blobs” reported to me thus far, and given the reduced quail harvest overall, that seems like a “higher” rate of hybridization than what we typically have reported.
Jude Smith is manager of the Muleshoe Nat’l. Wildlife Refuge, and also an avid quail hunter. He sent this picture from near the refuge headquarters in mid-August with these comments. “Been seeing an odd pair of birds up here, I thought blues at first ……..then they ran under a trailer and I thought there were a pair of bobs with them. Today I was walking the dog and I saw a pair of blues and thought heck let’s see what the girl could do. She pointed them on the motorgrader and as they ran and flushed I was once again confused because they looked like bobs….kind of. We set and flushed them again one landed in a tree and held. The call it makes is very odd….kind of beginning ‘bob’ with a ‘chip chruuu’….kind of reminds me of a Gambel’s. I will try and trap them but here are some quick pictures. I have seen one other hybrid but never a pair…….not sure who is what; may be two mules.