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California Quail

Callipepla californica

Description:

On a very, very hot afternoon in June, "Mr. and Mrs. Q" (what I call the local mated pair of California quail) brought their whole, young brood by! Thinking she'd take a nice dust bath in the center of driveway, Mama gathered the babies together in a tight circle to take a short nap in the shade of the valley oak in our front yard while Daddy Q kept look-out from atop an old railroad tie but, kids being kids (no matter what the species), naturally 2 or 3 of them followed her out there. Obviously peeved, she cut her dust bath short (poor Mama Q!) and called to the rest of the family to follow her over the rise and down the other side of the driveway where the babies first gathered in the shade of a large, plastic nursery pot before Mama Q again bedded down her brood in another shady spot for a few minutes. Then she and Papa Q headed them all up the hill toward the large meadow on the neighbor's property.

Habitat:

Dry hills, chapparal oak woodlands

Notes:

What was cute was that Mama and Daddy Q took walks each day down the driveway in front of my house before the babies came. Judging from the size of the babies, I think Mama and Daddy brought the whole new brood by for their first "outing"! :o)

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5 Comments

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

They are really very beautiful birds!

JeanC.Fisher
JeanC.Fisher 12 years ago

The little running quails always remind me of those old-fashioned pull-toys of ducks or some other animal that have wheels on the bottom with legs and feet painted on them so that, when you pull them, they look like they're running. The quail run just like that... LOL!

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

I recently saw male quails on top of Mt Diablo in their Quail Habitat.
They are very cute looking and they run so fast!
There was a road runner sighting in our county recently.
The big watershed really changes dramatically in Feb and March. So lets see what that surprises that holds!

JeanC.Fisher
JeanC.Fisher 12 years ago

Thanks so much, Emma... I love the male baby quails look like they have "mohawk" hair-dos! lol!

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

Very interesting story. Thnx for sharing! Deliteful! Wish Alice would read this and pyoung too.!

JeanC.Fisher
Spotted by
JeanC.Fisher

Cloverdale, California

Spotted on Jun 2, 2008
Submitted on Sep 15, 2011

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