Quail of a Time (ha ha)

I finally got some half-way decent pictures of my favorite little birds - quails!! When I was little I went to Quail Hollow Elementary. Along the bottom of any school correspondence and t-shirts was a silhouette of a big quail followed by a bunch of little quail in a line. I always thought that was so funny until I realized that quail pretty much behave that way!
I think quail are my favorite birds for two reasons:
1) They are so cute. They are dorky and not very clever, but they have those little teardrop shaped feathers on the top of their heads that bob with each step they take. (Libby hates those with a passion and says they're annoying).
2) They are so family oriented. I don't know if there is a cuter sight than Daddy quail leading the way, Mommy quail bringing up the rear, with babies safely in between. They go everywhere as a family and we always see Daddy quail up on the fence scouting around before he leads the family anywhere. Towards the end of the summer you can't tell the babies from the adults because they are so big but mom and dad are still herding them around.

These pictures aren't the best but I had to take them through the glass door. I couldn't go out or they would have scattered, with feathers bobbing all over the place.



There are three babies. Can you find them all?
By the way, that green stuff is sand from Gracy's sandbox. It finds its way all over the yard, the house, etc.

They come into the backyard every day and have a nice family meal together. Usually they peck around under the bird feeder but today they decided to scavenge amongst the wreckage of Gracy's play area/Eddie's fence-building area.

I'll try to get better pictures next time but it's hard to sneak up on them! Oh, how I loves me some quails.