One day this week as I was headed toward the gate in front of the house, a quail burst into flight from the other side of the juniper in the corner. It had probably been outside the yard and I couldn’t see it because of the juniper. I knew immediately what it was because of the distinctive whirring sound of its wings. There are plenty of quail out at Wildcat Bluff Nature Center and I often scare a covey up out of the tall grass. This one flew straight toward the enclosure and disappeared behind a juniper. Cookie the cat set off in pursuit but I don’t think he was successful in catching it.
It would be nice to have quail on the place for the variety they offer. We had one hang around for a year, maybe less, about 10 years ago. Recently I toyed with the idea of getting some quail eggs or chicks, raising them up and turning them loose but I was afraid I would just be feeding the neighborhood cats. One source offered chicks for sale for $1.75 in lots of 100 which dampened my enthusiasm even further.
That evening at dinner I mentioned seeing the quail to Joyce. She said she had seen several running single file as they do from the mounds into the tall grass in the pasture that same day. She thought they were quail but talked herself out of mentioning it to me because she thought she must have been mistaken.
Finally, Kari said she saw six or seven when she was out for a morning walk about the day Joyce and I made our sightings. We haven’t seen them since so maybe they were just passing through. However, they are very good at hiding and they could easily go unnoticed in the tall grass areas I left. Here’s hoping they take up residence.
Wednesday at the Bluff, we had a group of about 50 Bowie Middle School students and teachers come for a few hours of volunteer work. It was up to me to direct them so I set them to pulling weeds and pulled individuals out of the bunch as time went by to work on other things. They were nice kids and willing enough, some more than others. In fact, there were a few that could work with me anytime because of their willingness and ability. One crew — Isaiah, Kevin and Jevon — performed yeomen’s work grubbing out bear grass. Another youngster named Aden, no bigger than a fourth grader but with a lot of heart, tackled the tree trimming we needed done. One of the teachers, David Martinez, helped him when the limbs were too big for him.
One young lady hailed me with, “Hey you. Do you have a broom?” I had some of the boys digging up grassy weeds next to the sidewalk and she wanted to sweep the dirt off the sidewalk. I said, “Sure, come with me”, there being pushbrooms in the tool shed. She said, no. I’ll wait here, making it clear I was to fetch the broom.
Luckily it was a beautiful morning with lots of sunshine and little wind. We actually got some good work done. After a couple of hours the lady in charge of programs at the Bluff rounded everybody up and took them out on the hiking trails. I think they enjoyed their time at the Bluff. At least it was better than being at school, as I heard some of them say.