Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Quail baby rescue

Yesterday afternoon, while I was fixing Bogie's dinner, I looked out the window and saw a quail pair approaching the ground level bird bath.  Sweet.  Wait.  Something else is moving.  At least 20 little puffball babies. 

Bogie was distracted by eating, but I was afraid he would want to go outside afterwards.  I watched the babies go back under the gate.  Whew!.  Wait.  Mom and Dad didn’t leave.  Babies came streaming back into the yard.  Bogie laid down with no plans to go out into the heat.

Babies scurried back under the gate.  Yay!  Again, Mom and Dad didn’t leave and the babies came streaming back.  I opened the patio door, hoping the noise would send them all under the gate.

Mom and Dad flew over the wall.  The babies scurried away – into the yard.  I made sure Bogie couldn’t get outside, then I went out to gather up babies.  I found where some were hiding and herded them to the gate.  Score!  They went under. 

But wait, others went the opposite direction.  I caught one and put it outside the gate.  And it tried to come back into the yard!  I deflected it and put it further outside.

Herded the rest toward the gate.  Caught another and deposited it outside.  Didn’t see any more and went inside to find Bogie completely uninterested in what was happening. 

As I cleaned his bowl at the sink, I saw 3 more babies scurry along the wall and under the gate.  I watched a while longer, but nothing else moved.  All babies safely outside the yard.

Not my photo

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