One of the pleasures of visiting the southern Arizona desert at this time of year has been watching the families of quail puttering about. You can't take even a short walk without seeing them (although the mourning doves give them competition for visibility). They are delightful.
As I got closer to this family (posing a threat to them, they obviously thought), they took off up onto a wall around the neighbor's back yard.
And then they huddled together on top of a gatepost. It was so cute; it looked like they were trying to play the "How many angels can you fit on the head of a pin?" game. Obviously the last chap didn't think it would fit one more up there.
Finally, my presence was too much for them, and they took off for places beyond reasonable reach of my camera.
One of the pleasures of visiting the southern Arizona desert at this time of year has been watching the families of quail puttering about. You can't take even a short walk without seeing them (although the mourning doves give them competition for visibility). They are delightful.
As I got closer to this family (posing a threat to them, they obviously thought), they took off up onto a wall around the neighbor's back yard. 
And then they huddled together on top of a gatepost. It was so cute; it looked like they were trying to play the "How many angels can you fit on the head of a pin?" game. Obviously the last chap didn't think it would fit one more up there.
Finally, my presence was too much for them, and they took off for places beyond reasonable reach of my camera.
How many quail can you sit on top of a post: all but one :o)
ReplyDeleteI think you misread the situation, Ginger. The two papa quail didn't want you to notice they were sharing the three baby quail with only one mama.
ReplyDeleteSeriously that is one of the things I like most about quail. If a parent gets run down, or meets some other disaster other quail step in and take the left over family members into their group. The first year we were here, there was a papa quail in the back yard trying to teach 21 babies to fend for themselves. We'd noticed three families, then one by one the adults came up missing (several of the babies disappeared too) but the remaining male took his job of foster parent seriously and the last I saw of the group they seemed to be thriving.
I love the architecture of the house/building. The quail just add to the shot. And why were/are you in Arizona?
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