I'd Rather B Birdin': Bobwhite QUAIL

Showing posts with label Bobwhite QUAIL. Show all posts

§ From my book...

I hope now that we're back in the 'business' of sharing, that your New Year started with happiness and health. With the lack of getting out because of all the renovations being done around Anni's; finishing three rooms so far and beginning the huge livingroom this weekend, I am resorting to sharing some photos taken thru the cellphone from the bird photo portfolio that I had published several years ago for my own Texas Reference Book. In the last pages of the book, I have recorded where each bird was seen [location] and month/year. All the photos shared are from my camera over the decade plus of birding in my own vicinity. {number of photos are over 200, but I share just a few for now}....

From top to bottom:

Bobolink [rare]

Bobwhite Quail

Groove-billed Ani

Lazuli Bunting [rare]

Whooping Crane

White-eyed Vireo

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§ Elusive...

Two weeks after USA's Memorial Day Weekend, our county has had an uptick of covid19 cases. So, once again, our birding trips are close to 'nil' these days. I do get antsy every now and then, and go out birding where I remain in the car...just more or less, drive by 'shooting' with the camera lens. June 24 was one of those days. I hopped in the car and drove a lot of the desolated county roads about 20 miles from home. There, along the cotton and sorghum fields, I saw a couple of birds I haven't seen in years. One, the Greater Roadrunner. It ran in front of the car as it crossed the road. I stopped and opened the passenger window, hoping to get a photo of it. Too late, it was long gone. It flew [which is unusual for a roadrunner] into the chaparral; disappearing. Only to reappear in my rear view mirror on a fence post, behind me. I stopped and slowly backed up to be by its side, and it stayed there long enough for me to get a good supply of photos of the elusive bird! I was pleased. I even got a video recording of it preening. Then, I put the car back into gear and slowly made my way down the gravel road. Only to have a trio of Bobwhite Quail to appear. Of course, they too are very skittish birds, and took cover in the cotton field. Something flushed them out and they came up on the road again. I opened the window, stuck my camera away from the mirror and took a few pictures. Not good, clear, photos but at least a record of the sighting. I was truly elated to see these two bird species since, like I said, it's been a long time coming. Both the Roadrunner and the Quail I haven't seen in the wild in close to a decade.

Other birds seen this fine summer morning were, red winged blackbirds, meadowlarks, sparrows, ducks in the barrow ditches filled with rain water, scissortailed flycatchers, cowbirds, mockingbirds, doves, dickcissels, and maybe some pipits [yet to be identified without a closer inspection of my photos]. Oh and one lone white tailed deer in the far reaches...way in the distance through my binocular's vision... of the field [on private property].

DICKCISSEL
photos taken: Chapman Ranch
habitat map: Dickcissel
Length: 6.5 inches
Wingspan: 10 inches

SCISSORTAIL[ed] FLYCATCHER
photos taken: Chapman Ranch
habitat map: Flycatcher
Length: 11-15 inches
Wingspan: 15 inches

MOTTLED DUCK
photo taken: Chapman Ranch
habitat map: Duck
Length: 22 inches
Wingspan: 30 inches

GREATER ROADRUNNER
photos taken: Chapman Ranch
habitat map: Roadrunner
Length: 20-24 inches
Wingspan: 18-24 inches
Note: Did you know they are of the Cuckoo family?

NORTHERN BOBWHITE QUAIL
photos taken: Chapman Ranch
habitat map: Quail
Length: 9-10 inches
Wingspan: 14-16 inches

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Those participating this week:

A Quiet Corner
Me and My Camera
Birds Seen in Europe and Africa
Me and My Camera [2]
Cranium Bolts
Sallie (Full Time Life)
Linda, Virginia, USA
Reds Stand Out
Lavender Dreams
Travels With Birds [no hyperlink used]
Jean@SoNotOrganized
Not Afraid of Color...
Lea's Menagerie
Phil UK
Eileen
Rosyfinch Ramblings

§ A Quail, a Quail, My Kingdom for a Quail!

In the Sonoran Desert, the area of Southwest USA, home of the famous Saguaro cactus [the ~~empire state building~~ giant of cactus-dom] the quail resident was/is the Gambel's Quail. One year, the two of us shared our back yard with a quail family...privileged at watching the breeding, the nesting, the hatching, and the parents raising the 'brood'. We then moved to Texas... along the coast of Texas on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In some spots, it's sub-tropic. In other areas, it's a desert chaparral!! Here, in the chaparral, is where we found the Greater Roadrunner! Three weeks ago, walking as told to do after my stay in ICU, Bud and I trekked around the new birding facility being built. This was the Sunday we saw a whole slew of Sandhill Cranes that I posted photos of at Hootin' Anni's. This was also the same day we both heard, but never sighted, the Bobwhite Quail. We stayed around the land of mesquite and prickly pear cactus in hopes of finding them. No luck. So, on Tuesday, the last day of March, we decided to walk the newer trails once again in search of some land birds. We took our sweet time, viewing the abundance of wildflowers; but very little bird life. We stopped at the elevated observation platform and used our binoculars to see what water fowl was there on the bay. American Coots, Redheaded ducks, two reddish egrets, a half dozen roseate spoonbills, and a couple of great egrets. Across the bay at a great distance a flock of white pelicans. We left to head back to the car. We had grocery shopping to do before the rains came. Yep, it was another cloudy day. As we approached the end of the trail, where the car was parked, Bud had the car keys readied...I glanced at some of the construction debris beside the road and behold...TWO BOBWHITE QUAIL!! One male, one female. And they were scurrying away quickly. I hurriedly focused on one. I was excited....just to get a photo to record our sighting!! I had a wonderful opportunity of get both male[the one with the black & white face markings] AND female [with the buff brown face markings] in photo since they stopped to investigate for food tidbits before vanishing in the roadside brush and culvert. A 30 second instant, and they were gone. A first for me; otherwise seen only in bird guide books, now forever lodged in the pages of my own birding almanac, and one of the four on my sidebar for 2015 now 'marked off'...

NORTHERN BOBWHITE QUAIL
photos taken: Oso Bay Nature Trail
habitat range: Bobwhite Quail

I read some articles online once I got home, and sadly, the Northern Bobwhite Quail are in dire straits...the population has declined nearly 80 per cent in the state of Texas. I consider myself lucky to see just these two.

If you have time, read these ariticles:

Texas Quail Population Decline

THE BOBWHITE BLUES!!! Bobwhite Quail...a decline in population that needs to be addressed. Shared by LIVING BIRD MAGAZINE .Cornell Ornithology Lab. Issue Autumn 2012

Now, share your birding experiences:

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§ From my book...

§ Elusive...

§ A Quail, a Quail, My Kingdom for a Quail!

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