Monday, August 8, 2011

Quail Crazy School!

Quail fledglings getting ready to make the big jump!
Quail Crazy School! Got a couple families of quail on the fence and roof. The adults have flown onto the back fence and are now clucking/chirping at the fledgelings to jump off the roof to the fence and then hop along the fence and go over into the schoolyard out back ...
Quail don't fly real well!
... lots of flapping and squawking and mostly just plummeting towards the ground (especially the youngsters!). Ooops! One made the fence ... two over-shot the fence and are stuck in the neighbor's yard ... and OUCH! three took off together and smacked into the fence! They're now hiding under the juniper while their flock leader sits on the fence above them squawking, clucking and scolding them.
... maybe they'll make it to school ... maybe they won't!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Quail were plentiful in my neck of the woods when I was a girl. It was commonplace to see a mother with her chicks scurrying around in the grass. It was not at all uncommon for five or six coveys to be around our barn at any given time. However, I have not seen a single quail in probably twenty years. My father used to say that the influx of fire ants into our part of the world were responsible. The fire ants would kill either the chicks or spoil the eggs. Really sad since that beautiful quail sound used to greet us in the morning and sing us to sleep at dusk.

Never in my life, however, did I ever see a quail on a rooftop! This is an amazing picture....