A Rare Visitor

Last week I was surprised to see a female California quail sedately strutting across the lawn, a most unusual sight. This morning I heard a male just outside the kitchen window. Starlings do a good quail impression, but I could tell this was the genuine article. Eventually I caught sight of him. He was very hard to stalk, as he is able to melt into the shade under bushes.

Now that I’ve seen how effectively they can scratch pits in the garden (worse than blackbirds) I will not be sad if they decide to move on.