Plus, we had guests over that I was so excited to see. One of our kids’ friends from club swimming in Palm Springs who lives in Tempe with her husband and six-month old first born baby! We made lunch and they played in the pool.
I also managed to get a few captures of bird photos that I like.
A Roadrunner darted about chasing quail. This clever guy hid himself in a planter at the far end of the yard with only his head showing. He’d jump out “Beep beep!” and go for the chase. Fortunately, he didn’t have success.
Curve-billed Thrasher with fuzzy feathers make me believe he’s a youngster.
This Abert’s Towhee juvenile explored a planter.
More juvies looking for trouble!
A Gila Woodpecker up in the tree surveying the quail spectacle below.
This grown up Curve-billed Thrasher was keeping an eye out for the young one.
Mrs. and Red hung out in the morning before it got too hot!
The quail are always in our backyard. There are so many families with mom and dad and a batch of babies that I can’t keep track. One family has two babies. Another has 10 or 11 and there are families with every number in between.
The poppa quail usually finds a perch on a bench or rock to have a good view of his family while they scratch around for birdseed in the gravel, or visit the birdseed block.
A pretty momma quail mostly stays with her babies. I see the moms calling out to them to round them up and keep them close by.
Here’s a teenager quail. There are very few little itty bitties around anymore. They grow up so quickly!
Here’s a group of babies hanging out in the shade of a barrel cactus.
Three young ones making their move to the bird seed block.
This teenager has legs!
Another poppa quail on the lookout for his family.
I will miss these quail families when the babies are all grown up and they start their own family units. That will be next spring.
I got quite a few good photos of Red and Mrs. I saw them every single day, but not a glimpse of their fledglings. I wonder if they flew the nest and are living life without mom and dad?
We had an amazing evening with Red. I spotted him on the fence to our courtyard outside our front door. I talked to him, calling “Hey Red.” I went inside and told my husband. He suggested we sit in the courtyard and hang out with Red. We enjoyed the sun with Red flitting above us. Red flew into the tree we were sitting under. He flew to the wall, the fence and back up into the tree, singing to us. He called for Mrs. and she joined our group. We hung out with them for half an hour and finally went inside.
I took this with my iphone, so the quality isn’t that great. But you can see how we got to hang out with our friendliest bird Red.
Here’s one of the photos I took of Mrs. this week. I’m liking this week’s photos because of the clarity of my subject birds (not the ones in the background.) This is thanks to my photographer friend Gary Gruber. He suggested a few weeks ago that I change my settings to a faster shutter speed.
A gilded flicker stopped at the birdbath in the morning light.
A White-winged dove was hanging out for a day.
The resident bully bird, a Curve-billed Thrasher, loves to throw his beak around and intimidate the other birds.
Papa quail with his babies having a word with Red.
I had a first time visitor to the birdseed block. This is Albert’s Towhee. I used his call on my Merlin app to identify him and then went to All About Birds to ID him according to his looks.
I got this closeup of a quail dad’s face and fluffy feathers.
Which photo or photos are your favorites?
What are your weekend plans?
Do you have anything special planned to celebrate July 4th plans?
I captured the morning light in this bunny’s ears. We have bunnies everywhere, but I mostly see them on my morning walks as they dash across the road. They are frightened of big old me!
I was sitting in the waiting room of my husband’s PT yesterday, looking through the week’s photos I had captured. I am sharing the ones I like best — that didn’t make it into Monday or Wednesday’s posts. Enjoy a few of my week’s favorite photos.
It looked like Red was having a bad hair day or for some reason fluffed himself up.
A Mourning Dove looking grand in our backyard.
We don’t often see these guys. I looked up Arizona black bird with black beak and yellow eye. Grackle is what came up.
A rare appearance to see Red and Mrs. in the backyard at the same time — without any fledglings.
A quail baby growing up. They do grow up so quickly!
This was a baby pic I took a few weeks ago. We don’t have any quail this tiny anymore.
Here’s Red a few seconds after the fluffy look. Does anyone know what the fluffy feathers is about?
This is a fledgling who appeared with Red in my Wednesday post. This is such a fun year with a possible three babies to watch with Red and Mrs., my backyard cardinal couple.
Add to that multiple quail families with babies ranging from brand new and itty bitty to rangy teens.
Baby quail.
Papa guarding his babies.
A family of older babies hanging out in the shade under a bench with daddio. Smart birds! It’s gotten hot!
These are the itty bitty babies.
Then there’s the backyard bully bird — the Curve-Billed Thrasher. He doesn’t look so mean perched on a pink flamingo a friend gave me from Costco for a birthday present.
A female Gilded Flicker can make a quick dent in the food block.
Do you have a favorite photo? If so which one?
What’s on the agenda for the first weekend of June?
“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.” — Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. president, 1945
I spent a quiet Memorial weekend with my husband who is now on week three post surgery. I took a few photos that I was pleased with and will share some today.
I read two books this past week by fellow bloggers and enjoyed both immensely. If you haven’t read Cupcakecache’s second book, “Quest for Absence,” you should! I read it within two days and couldn’t put it down. This is Eve Marie’s second book in what will be a trilogy starting with Bayou Heist. Many of the same characters appear in her second book but it’s placed in the home of her youth, Catskills of NY. I enjoyed her setting and getting more details into the story and plot she wrote about in her first book.
The other book is “Perfect” by P.J. Gudka. Pooja’s blog is Lifesfinewhine. I usually go to bed between 8 or 9 p.m. but I read until midnight to finish her book. I fell asleep on the sofa and finished it the next day. The characters and plot kept me enthralled. I learned about “Perfect” by a Heart of the Matter podcast and also on Lauren Scott’s blog Baydreamer Writes for her review on her blog post.
Both books are on Amazon plus Pooja has a link on her website.
Two brand new baby quail. I tried to get photos with their mom, but either the babies or the mom were out of focus. These guys are super tiny!
A House Finch couple on a cactus.
A momma quail with her brood. These are older than the two babies above.
A momma quail trying to scare away a squirrel by fluffing up her feathers. Papa quail is in the background as reinforcement.
Americans began to recognize Memorial Day in 1868, and the country established it as a federal holiday in 1971. Originally known as “Decoration Day,” the holiday started with communities coming together to decorate the graves of those who died during service.
Theories of the first Memorial Day
After the Civil War, Americans across the nation began holding tributes to honor the approximately 620,000 soldiers who lost their lives — about 2% of the population at the time. These early observances typically included decorating graves with flowers, reciting prayers, and paying respect to the fallen. But history records show more than one theory about which event marked the first official Memorial Day.
A discovery by a Yale University professor at a Harvard archive suggests the earliest observance of Memorial Day was held by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1865. Records show that the group transformed a racetrack that had once served as a prison for Union captives into a proper burial site.
On May 1, 1865, thousands gathered for a procession led by 3,000 school children carrying flowers and singing patriotic songs.
In 1966,the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day when President Johnson signed a presidential proclamation stating Waterloo celebrated the first Memorial Day. That day, in 1866, the city closed all businesses so residents could decorate the gravesites of soldiers with flowers and American flags.
Other records show that the first Memorial Day came after the Civil War, when communities came together at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868. It remains one of the country’s most notable Memorial Day ceremonies.
But the history doesn’t end there: As recently as the 1990s, historians have found records of earlier celebrations.
Happy Memorial Day!
Here’s a video of a family of quail including 10 babies!
What were some highlights of your Memorial Weekend?
Bird of the Week: CLXVI Gambel’s quail (Callipepla gambelii)
A male and female Gambel’s quail that I photographed in our backyard. Every day I enjoy watching quail because they have gregarious personalities. There’s something about their topnots bobbing up and down that not only make them stand out, but add to their silly look.
“Gambel’s quail have a chunky round body with a feather plume on their head. Males have a dark and thick plume, a black face, neck and also a black patch on the breast. Females have more dull and thin feather plumes and lack the black markings. Mature males have much more striking plumage than females.” —Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
Gambel’s quail can be found throughout the southwest United States. Mature birds average eleven inches long and weigh from 5.1 to 6.5 ounces (160 to 200 grams.)
Here’s a link to Gambel’s Quail songs and calls from All About Birds.
We have a quail’s nest with 12 eggs in a planter of a succulents called elephant’s food. Unfortunately, the quail picked a busy place next to where our trash bins are stored. I moved our recycling into the garage, but our coming and going into the garbage storage area scared away the mom and dad. This is the second time this has happened to us. The other time, they picked a planter of elephant’s food next to the garage while we were on vacation. When we returned home with the car, those eggs were abandoned, too.
I was so excited a few days ago, to have baby quail visit our backyard with their mom and pop. I put out a birdseed block so the babies can get plenty of food. At this time, they aren’t able to fly up to our bird feeder. I have several families visiting in the morning and evenings.
Fun Quail Facts
A group of quail is called a “covey.”
A male quail will act as a sentinel standing guard over his covey from an elevated location. If he senses danger, he will call out loudly in warning.
Males and females pair for life.
The male has a top knot plume that is actually 6 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 seven to 28 eggs per nest, with the female laying one to two 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 egg.
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 May or June.
Chicks are able to leave the nest within hours of hatching, foraging with their parents, and are capable of flying short distances within a week
Quail couples can cohabitate and share the nest with a second couple.
