We have some sagebrush on the far side of the East Lot that we call the "bird bushes" because the smaller birds tend to perch there; however, the larger birds usually only use them as places to shelter. Indeed, I've seen some of them run under the bushes to get away from hawks, which are too large to go into the bushes. However, sometimes the quail can be seen perching as well.
In this case, I think the quail is watching out for his mate, but I didn't see her. They might be nesting here, although I suspect that the quail mostly nest across the railroad tracks, where there is less commotion like passing cars and people walking their dogs to disturb them.
We're almost out of birdseed. A trip to Big R is in the near future.