Waiting to hatch

Posted on June 2, 2023 by E.A. Wickham

Here’s a quail selfie from my Bird Buddy AI bird feeder.

Twice this week I spotted baby quail. Once was on our morning walk and a mom and dad were followed by the teeniest quail babies I’ve ever seen. They must have hatched that day.

Yesterday afternoon, a family of quail marched into our backyard from the wash. They were a little older and didn’t stay long enough for me to get a video or picture.

I immediately ran to the front of our house to see if our quail eggs had hatched.

Our nest of eggs in a planter of Elephant Feed.

No, the eggs are still there and it’s been a month since I’ve seen a momma or papa quail in the nest.

Unfortunately, the quail chose a planter next to our garage. At first, I’d see quail fly away when I’d pull into the garage or back the car out. Raising the garage door was enough noise to make the parents take flight.

I’m afraid the quail were scared away and they abandoned their nest. Or something could have happened to them. It’s a wild world out there. I’ve read what to do with eggs to get them to hatch. The most sensible advice is to wait and see. I also realize that I’m not opening the garage door very often. Maybe the quail parents are there, but not when I’m there.

Does anyone have advice while I wait for our eggs to hatch? Do you think the nest has been abandoned?

Quirky Quail Facts

Posted on May 15, 2023 by E.A. Wickham

quail photo — Male Quail photo from my Bird Buddy.

I’m working on my community newsletter and my co-editor Sherry and neighbor Shirley put together fun facts about quail. I learned a lot of quirky things about quail I never knew before.

Here are the facts:

A group of quail is called a “covey.”

Males and females pair for life.

The male has a top knot plume that is actually six feathers together, and is used to intimidate other males.

Their food of preference is wild bird seed, followed by uncooked rice or sunflower seeds.

Nests are mostly in pots or window boxes, and are made by hollowing out the nest in dirt.

There can be a total of 7 to 28 eggs per nest, with the female laying 1 to 2 per day. It is common for two females to share a nest, which is called “egg dumping,” and the female only sits on the nest after all the eggs are laid.

Eggs are speckled brown and arranged in a neat oval called a “clutch.”

Incubation is 25 days at a temperature of 100 degrees, and eggs are turned often.

Before hatching the babies peep inside the eggs.

They are born with a full coat of feathers, eyes wide open, and are able to feed themselves.

They all hatch on the same day and leave the nest immediately, usually in late June.
From MY HOA SPRING 2023 NEWSLETTER — Written by sherry and shirley

I told one of my friends I discovered this nest of quail eggs and she asked when I was going to “pick them.” I told her we’re letting them hatch and that I can’t wait to see the babies line up behind their mom and dad and follow them around our yard. They are so cute!

She said, “But quail eggs are so delicious.”

“I can buy them at the farmer’s market.” And I did!

A dozen quail eggs from the farmer's market.

These are the quail eggs I bought at our local farmer’s market. The vendor assured me these didn’t come from someone’s yard, but he buys them from a quail egg ranch. Somehow that makes it better. I can’t imagine stealing the eggs from the quail living in my yard!

I asked the vendor at the farmer’s market what they tasted like and how to prepare them. He said most people hard boil them and put them in salads. He also said they taste exactly like chicken eggs.

I looked up how long to hard boil quail eggs and of course it’s much less time than chicken eggs. 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes. My friend was right — they are delicious!

Have you ever tried quail eggs? If so, what did you think about them?

Would you harvest quail eggs from your own yard? Why or why not?

An Eggless Easter Celebration

Posted on April 3, 2015 by E.A. Wickham

My friend Linda’s Easter Cupcakes

There won’t be an egg hunt at my house this year. That’s because my husband doesn’t want to dye eggs with me. Add that to my dislike of eating egg salad all week, I’ll have to get over the no Easter egg sadness.

It’s the first year that we haven’t had a child home for Easter. Last year, I forced my 18-year-old to hunt for eggs. She grudgingly dyed the eggs I boiled after I nagged her a few times. Easter morning, I hid them outside around our patio. I think she really did enjoy looking for them. At least, she went through the paces.

Kat at the Fireman’s Annual Egg Hunt.

This year, I’ll skip it. Somehow I can’t imagine my husband hunting for them. Or me. After I’ve hidden them. Yes, that would be sad.

Instead, we’ll walk over to O’Donnell golf course for sunrise service. It should be a gorgeous morning up against the mountain with spectacular views. I’m thinking the last time we did that was before we had kids. We went with our good friends and sat on the dewy grass on a plaid wool blanket.

Funny thing. I see a pattern where we are returning to activities that we haven’t had time to enjoy in years.

My kids and classmates at the annual egg hunt.

My husband just said, “Let’s go to the beach.” We used to pick up our stuff and jump in the car on a few minutes notice and have a beach day. That was before swimming and school activities took over our lives. I think I can get used to this.

Happy Good Friday, everyone!

My son hunting for Easter Eggs. One said "God Has Risen!" His answer? "Did you hear that? Wow!"

My son hunting for Easter Eggs. One said “Jesus Has Risen!” His answer? “Did you hear that? Wow!”

7 Things I Miss About My Daughter Now that She’s in College

Posted on September 4, 2014 by E.A. Wickham

Kat at Carpinteria State Beach

We took our daughter to college two weeks ago. She looks really happy in the photos posted on FB and Instagram. She’s made new friends, is enjoying her team and coaches -and likes her classes.

My life is busy with new and old projects. But, I notice a quiet, a sort of waiting sense, that I didn’t feel before. It’s the little things about her that I miss.

Kat swimming

I miss her cracking my back. She could give me hug, tell me to relax and say, “One, two..” and lift me up in the air before she said three. The result was cracking, popping relief.

I miss her making me laugh. Kat is funny. I love her little half smile when she knows she’s especially clever. And the crinkles around her eyes when she laughs out loud.

I miss her cleaning out my wallet and organizing it for me. She’d say, “Mom your purse is gateway hoarding.”

I miss her walking through the kitchen door after her morning workout asking me to make her eggs. I don’t have anyone to make eggs for right now — except my husband and I — and we rarely eat them.

I miss her cat Olive walking on the skinny end of her four poster bed while she watched Netflix on my laptop.

Baby Olive

I miss when she was very young and called yellow “lallo.” And when we’d go to the beach and she’d strip naked as soon as her suit got wet. I used to bring a bag full of swimsuits for her.