This year’s little California Quail can fly pretty well already. I had quite a display out my front window this afternoon: the whole family fluttered over from a neighbor’s yard and ended up in the garden by the curb; then, soon after, they all emerged and, with the adults keeping watch, the little guys poked about in the lawn.
Now that I’ve been here a full year, I’ve come to know the quails’ habits pretty well—their clucks and calls and subtle messages to the young ’uns. They seem to prefer running across the streets and yards and driveways, but they’ll take wing if they have to. (I worry a bit about one neighbor’s outdoor cat, but all I’ve seen in its mouth have been rodents.)
It’s a pretty nice day when you can look out your window at what the quail are up to.
On this morning’s mostly quiet hike with dog, meantime, I spied a tanager, more broad-tails, a Virginia’s Warbler, and da random nuthatch. Also, the young Cooper’s are still hanging around Coyote Canyon.
Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. Rock Pigeon*
2. Mourning Dove*
3. Black-chinned Hummingbird
4. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay**
5. Western Tanager
6. House Finch*
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Lazuli Bunting
9. Black-capped Chickadee
10. American Robin (v)
11. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
12. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
13. Lesser Goldfinch**
14. Cooper’s Hawk (v)
15. Virginia’s Warbler
16. Red-breasted Nuthatch
Elsewhere
17. House Sparrow (v)
18. California Quail
Mammals
Rock Squirrel
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-chinned hummingbird, blue-gray gnatcatcher, broad-tailed hummingbird, California quail, cooper's hawk, house finch, house sparrow, lazuli bunting, lesser goldfinch, mourning dove, red-breasted nuthatch, rock pigeon, rock squirrel, spotted towhee, Virginia’s warbler, western tanager, Woodhouse’s scrub jay
