Tag Archives: Quail

It’s All About the Quail

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A young female Gambel’s Quail walking past the cactus statue.

We have two types of birds that visit every day. Quail and doves. I enjoy quail more than doves, because with their top knots they look like clowns and have tons of personality.

I caught this sharp photo of a male quail alone on the bird block.

This female quail strikes a pose on a backyard bench.

Papa quail is looking a bit round. I can tell the difference between the adults and juveniles who are entering adulthood by their size. The ones who hatched in the Spring look skinny in comparison to this guy (see the first photo for a young one.)

A female quail caught mid step on a bench (above) and a male below.

Wickham Works Cards Update:

It’s been a couple days since my website went live for my photographic greeting cards. I mailed out my first order to a fellow blogger. Thank you!

I went out to dinner with women I used to volunteer with to raise money for a residential facility to rehab sex-trafficked victims. Our group is defunct, but we still get together socially. One of those ladies looked at my cards and asked for custom stationery featuring her name and flowers.

Yes, I can take custom orders, too! I hadn’t thought about that before.

If you get a chance, visit my website: https://www.wickhamworkscards.com/

One of my cards with the star named Red.

Happy weekend! What are your plans?

Birds and More Birds

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This is a juvenile Harris’s Hawk who stopped by last week. The spotted chest and leggings are why I know it’s a juvie. Adults are solid brown in those places.

On the smaller side of birds are these two House Sparrows.

A Mourning Dove enjoyed the bird bath too and got fluffed up.

A quail couple feasted on the birdseed block.

A Roadrunner took over a bench in the backyard.

Another look at the Harris’s Hawk.

Which birds are your favorites out of this batch of photos?

Friday’s Photos

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A Harris’s Hawk landed in a tree in our backyard. We haven’t had one stop by for months, although I see them soaring overhead. I could hear his call and I spent a bit of time trying to spot him behind branches. The link is to a Youtube video of Harris’s hawks in flight with their sounds. I wouldn’t want to mess with those claws or beak!

This is a compilation of my favorite photos that I took this week.

Papa quail shares the birdseed block with a few of his babies.

A White-winged Dove perches on a flamingo buddy.

Bully bird Curve-billed Thrasher lands on the cactus statue before scaring everyone away from the birdseed block.

An adult House Finch feeds it’s juvenile.

Red watches over the rain meter during a Monsoon week.

Do you have a favorite photo? If so, which one?

What fun plans do you have for the weekend?

It’s All About Quail

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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.

Happy Monday! What are your plans this week?

Visits to the backyard

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I was thrilled to see this cactus in bloom. But then a rabbit stopped by and ate the bud on top. It didn’t get a chance to bloom.

Red was mixing it up with the quail families.

One of the many families of quail who stopped by over the weekend. We have families with tiny babies up to teenagers now. The smallest family has two babies, another has three, then we have those with six, seven up to 10 babies.

A lone baby quail. One little guy flew up to the windowsill and hung out by me.

I took this with my iphone sitting at my little table. Eventually he flew down to catch up with his siblings and mom and dad.

I’m not sure, but I think this is a Desert Spiny Lizard after looking at photos of Arizona lizards.

A House Finch observes the scene in the backyard. It was a busy weekend for birds. I did get a photo using my iphone of a Harris’s Hawk eating it’s kill on top of a saguaro. But I thought better of sharing it. It’s kind of gross looking.

Red says “What are you guys looking at?”

I have a week of doctors appointments and driving my husband to PT. I even have one appointment for myself.

What’s on your agenda for this week?

Happy Friday Photos

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This is a Gilded Flicker on our birdbath. I was excited to see I had captured this photo. Maybe I’ll use this in the future for a Bird of the Week challenge that I’m posting on Wednesdays.

I’m out of energy taking care of my husband post surgery. He’s not very demanding, but I’m trying to make things as easy as possible for him. He’s going to Physical Therapy already and I’m driving, which if you read my previous posts, you know is not my favorite thing to do!

For today’s post, I’m using some of my favorite photos I took this week. And I am going to be light on words.

Papa Gambel’s quail with a little one in tow.

Another Harris’s antelope squirrel practicing heat dumping, which is how they cool down. He was close to the window looking straight at me and my camera.

A Brown-Headed Cowbird made his first visit to our backyard. The Mourning Doves seem fascinated with the newcomer.

A closeup of a baby quail.

No post is complete without Red.

What is your favorite photo?

What are your plans for the weekend?

Babies!

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Momma quail with a few babies. We have three different quail families visiting our backyard every day. The tiniest ones are a family with three babies. I spotted them for the first time Friday. They are so adorable! Then there is a family with seven babies and one with eight.

Aren’t they cute?

Today we left the house at 5:15 a.m. to take my husband to surgery. I spent Sunday stressing about it. Not only am I worried about him, I’m worried about my own anxiety getting out of control. I have to drive him home from surgery, plus to follow up appointments and PT. I’m not a fan of driving here and once in a while I get a bout of driving anxiety. I think I’m talking myself into it as I sit and worry.

Hence, I’m focusing on cute baby quail.

Here’s to a speedy recovery for my husband and no driving anxiety for me!

Here’s a video off these little guys:

What’s on your week’s schedule?