Tag Archives: Arizona

The babies are here!

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Gambel Quail babies that is. Monday afternoon, I had my first sighting of baby quail for 2025. There were four babies with one mother and two dads. I wonder where the other mother is? Maybe she’s at the nest with more eggs or fledglings? Four babies is a small brood. I have read that adult quail sometimes co-parent babies with others.

I found a nest last year in a planter with 20 eggs, which made me believe there was more than one mother. Unfortunately, that nest was abandoned because it was next to our garage. The adult quail flew away whenever we drove in or out of the garage. They built the nest while we were out of town.

Fun Quail Facts:

Mating Habits

Gambel’s quails are monogamous birds, meaning that they form pair bonds with a single mate for the duration of the breeding season.

The breeding season typically lasts from March to June, with mating occurring in the early spring. During this time, males engage in courtship displays to attract females.

These displays include a variety of behaviors, such as puffing up their feathers, bobbing their heads, and emitting a distinctive call.

The males may also engage in “tidbitting,” where the male offers foraged food to the female.

Once a female has chosen a mate, the pair will remain together for the duration of the breeding season.

They will engage in preening behavior to reinforce their bond and may engage in duets, where they call back and forth to each other.

The female will then begin to prepare a nest for the eggs, while the male will defend their territory and provide food for both himself and his mate.

Nesting Habits

Gambel’s quails build their nests on the ground, typically in dense brush or vegetation.

The nest is a shallow depression lined with grasses and other plant material and is often hidden from view to protect it from predators.

Gambel’s Quail Nesting Stats
Eggs10 – 14
Incubation21 days
Nestling PhaseFollow Adults after Hatching
Broods1 most common / sometimes 2

Females typically lay between 10 and 14 eggs, which are incubated for approximately 21 days.

During this time, both the male and female will take turns incubating the eggs and protecting the nest from predators.

After the eggs hatch, the chicks begin following the adults, who will continue to brood the chicks.

https://www.wild-bird-watching.com/gambel’s-quail-habits.html

Here’s a video of the babies with a parent:

What signs of Spring are you enjoying in your neighborhood?

Photos of my favorite backyard characters

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I have always enjoyed my quail and I’m looking forward to seeing babies. Certainly some of our quail are having babies? In the past, I’ve found nests in planters. As soon as I see quail families, I’ll post photos.

My favorite bird of all. Red is so striking.

Mrs. Is pretty cute, too! Isn’t it something how the males in nature have all the bright colors?

Red shares the spotlight with a quail. There’s always one quail who keeps watch for predators. He’ll be up higher and alone and start squawking if he senses danger.

Then there’s this guy. There are three chipmunks who hang out together. One looks like a parent with two babies.

What are your favorite characters in your backyard?

Here’s a PS I wasn’t expecting. I saw a foot and ankle surgeon about a painful left foot I’ve been dealing with for years. Finally, I decided to inquire about surgery. In the meantime, during our stay in the cabin on the lake last weekend, I fell and twisted my right ankle last Friday. I asked the surgeon (since she’s a foot and ankle specialist) if she could check it out for me while I was there for my left foot. Big surprise. I fractured my fibula and have been walking on it for five days! Yesterday was especially painful and swollen. No wonder. They are trying to get me into surgery ASAP. If you miss hearing from me for a few days, that’s why. I may have to wait for insurance approval and scheduling, but the sooner the better.

Up on the roof!

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I came back from my morning walk yesterday and spotted the tiles on our roof. This is turning out to be a bigger project than I had previously imagined.

When we had solar installed, they broke roof tiles and put holes in our roof. First big rain (it poured for several days) we had water damage on the inside.

I called the solar company and sent a letter with photos of the damage to Costco (we bought the solar through them.) A Costco manager called me back as soon as he got the letter. Unfortunately, the solar company no longer works through Costco and they moved out of Arizona. But still the manager gave me a number to call and file a complaint and he said he would, too.

Nothing has happened on that end, but we needed to move forward with fixing our roof and the interior of the house. We got a roofer over and our handyman said he’d do the inside repairs once the roof is fixed.

The roofer said we needed to hire a solar company to remove the panels and supports. And then replace them when he was done with the roof repair. That was the hard part. It took more than three weeks to find a solar company who would do the job. They are too busy selling and installing complete home solar systems and not interested in a small maintenance job. We called people we found online as well as referrals from friends and neighbors. The referrals never returned our calls! Isn’t that something?

I’m glad we found a roofer, a solar company and have our handyman — who is the best.

This is our roof a few hours after the first photo was taken! Yes, I’m thankful. Solar gets reinstalled Monday. Then the handyman comes to repair the damage inside.

A bright flower on a small Beavertail Cactus. All photos were taken with my new phone.

Happy Mother’s Day to all my mom friends.

What are your plans to celebrate or enjoy the weekend?

Spring has sprung!

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Throughout our neighborhood, the Palos Verdes trees are in full bloom. The bright yellow flowers against the blue sky are so gorgeous.

This is how beautiful our driveway looks right now. Most of the year, the plants are brown without blossoms.

Even the saguaro in our backyard is bursting out in blossoms. A Gila Woodpecker is taking advantage of the nectar from one blossom.

I took the saguaro photos Monday. Today there are seven blossoms. I’m taking pictures each day to see how the blossoming crown progresses.

This is the walkway from our driveway to our courtyard and front door. I have never seen it look so “Springy” before.

Then there’s RED:

I decided to take a few more photos of the saguaro blossoms for this post and guess who showed up? He landed right in front of me and started singing with all his might! I think he wondered why my camera was pointed at the cactus — and not him!

Here is Red singing his heart out! None of the photos today are edited, cropped or touched. My professor’s last words of wisdom for us this week was we can start editing in Adobe Photoshop — but it has a steep learning curve. I’m thankful for the lessons I’ve had with this professor and that he didn’t let us crop or edit — we had to be aware of what our photos would look like untouched.

Even the bees are buzzing today!

Happy Spring and thanks for going on my photo journey with me.

Perhaps it’s time to get back to writing and editing my manuscripts?

My Final Revised Final

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Photography class is officially over. I turned in my revised final this week along with my report on an out of context photo from the photographer’s original intent. If you missed my first attempt, I posted it HERE.

One of the instructions for creating a story out of pictures was to have an element of surprise. The bully bird attacked the chipmunk, which was a surprise, but the photo didn’t translate — it was just a bunch of feathers. I think the chipmunk hanging by his toes to get a drink from the pool was a bit of a surprise.

Whew! Time to sit in the backyard and enjoy my wildlife without holding a heavy camera. Instead I’ll take a book with me and relax!

What did you think my revised edition of the final with new photos?

Do the photos look in sharper focus that the one I posted Monday?

Happy Friday! What plans do you have for this weekend?

Flora with a little fauna

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I was out on a walk yesterday morning when a neighbor walking her dog said, “There are so many beautiful blossoms, you need your camera for your class.”

I had run into her once while taking cacti blossom photos for the class, which by the way, the professor said weren’t creative but rather ordinary. I was thrilled they were in focus!

I continued with my walk and noticed several gorgeous blooms and blossoms. My neighbor was right. I beelined back home for my camera and got my Macro lens.

I took blogger friend Danny Watts’ advice. His blog is Fountain Pen Chronicles: Adventures in Analog. He told me to get down on the ground for photos to get a better Point of View and Depth of Field. I took my husband with me, to help me up (Also Danny’s suggestion). My husband’s phone was blowing up with clients and he had to head home. I was left alone. I got on the ground. I managed to get myself up, which wasn’t that comfortable on the sidewalk or gravel. But I did it.

This is the blossom featured above from a distance. It’s so beautiful but lasts only one or two days.

Here are more cacti in bloom:

And a Fairy Duster!

Here’s for the little bit of fauna to go with the flora:

A Curve Billed Thrasher on the Century Plant.

My latest and final photography assignment for the class is to tell a story using six to 10 photos. I’m not sure what to do, but he’s giving us an extra week to work on it. I’m taking photos of my creatures, hoping a story line reveals itself to me.

Any suggestions for my final photography project?

Which cacti blooms do you like and why?

Week Nine of Photography

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This is a cactus in bloom that I spotted on my morning walk. I walked back home, grabbed my camera and beelined to the blooming cactus with my Macro lens. I’m using this for week nine’s photography assignment, which is called “Seeing the Light.”

This week we are going full manual mode. That means that we are adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and setting the ISO. Part of this week’s assignment was to choose a subject and bracket the photos. Yes, you and me both. I was stumped at “bracket.”

I learned it means to take a photo with settings I like. Then take a photo of the same subject with the f stop up one stop and then take a third photo with the f stop down one stop. Hence making “brackets” around the original photo. That way we’re supposed to get an exposure that we like.

Here’s an example:

This photo is taken at f 11, which is lets in more light than the first photo which was taken at f 16 — one stop higher. I prefer the first photo which is darker, because I like the way the flowers pop.

That’s half of my assignment. I’m also supposed to take a photo of another subject — inside with light coming in from a window — or in varied light like a tree backlit from the sun.

Last week, the photography professor told me I’d see dramatic improvement in my photos by investing in higher quality lenses. He said the kit lenses that came with my camera are poor quality. The Macro lens I used for the two photos above is higher quality. It was a Christmas present and this is the first time I’ve used it for an assignment. I can see the difference in these two photos already.

Here are a few other photos I took this week:

This may make it into my assignment this week. The day after I took the cactus flower photos, I was on my walk and spotted this yucca in bloom. Once again, I had to hightail it home, grab my camera and walk back. Maybe I should walk with my camera?

This scene fits the assignment criteria by having varied lighting. A tip the instructor offered was to include shadows. This was taken at f 11. The following photo is f 8, one stop lower and brighter.

Which do you like better? I like the composition better in the first yucca photo, but the light in the second one better.

Here are two photos I took for fun with my telephoto lens:

I’m learning how to use it. It’s a higher quality lens than the one that came with the camera. However, my hands are NOT very steady and I need to use a tripod or the photos come out blurry. I like the light in my Bird Buddy feeder and the sharp focus of the birds. The photo above I used a tripod. Photo below handheld. But in the second photo — featuring Mrs. Red — I was sitting inside the casita balancing my camera on the kitchen table.

Which photos do you like best and why?