May
11
Oh Those of Feathered Bonnets
Posted by: lmairs | May 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment
This is not a blog about spring, it’s a blog about noticing, noticing the very thing in front of us that somehow sidesteps our attention. It happens all the time. We get so distracted with where we’re going that we forget to notice where we are. And where I found myself this morning was down at the gate opening up for the day, (I so love that metaphor in my morning routine).
I pulled the gates open and turned from kicking up the security latch with my foot, took a few paces back toward the house and noticed the egg. Alone, randomly placed on top of a rotted log, in full view and unattended, I’ve seen this before. These solitary eggs are always within about 20 feet of nesting activity and I can’t seem to find any information that will tell me why this happens.
The quails are nesting all over the place this year. They are so silly and cute and busy and entertaining I can’t get enough of them and their skittish dash from side to side, their fussing and flapping, pecking and rubbing, bobbing and lurching. The quails have dust baths. When you walk along the trails, look in the dry dirt for indentations about 4-7 inches in circumference. There’ll be loose dust surrounding these depressions and usually you’ll see two or more in the same area. They belly-down in the dirt and shuffle around while flapping their wings. If you’re patient and quiet you can also witness the male of the pair dipping his head forward with his plume to the ground and taking a scurry backward 10-12 steps all the while scraping the ground with that feathered black tuft on the top of his head. There’s a very good reason he does this, maybe Dick Cannings can tell us in June when he visits. Stay tuned for that one!
In the mean time, show up Saturday, May 15 1 or 2 pm for the puppet show, “Fairies of the Forest.”
Woodhaven is located at 4711 raymer road. South on Gordon, cross over Dehart, second left is Raymer Road, it zig zags, stay left at ‘slow to 30 km’ and you’ll get to a T in the road. Drive through the gates and here we are, the quails and the puppets and all that is Woodhaven awaits.
PS: all the photos on this blog are by Lori Mairs unless otherwise credited.