Mr. and Mrs. Quail

I was surprised to see Gambel's quail this morning.  They usually come by looking for food late in the afternoon, say between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm.  Perhaps the very overcast sky threw off their internal clocks (the sun broke through briefly) - or maybe it was that I hadn't thrown any seed out for them in two days (shame on me)!

I focused on the male (further back) and got the additional bonus of capturing the female, too.  It's very easy to tell the sexes apart.  The males have the brownish cap and the females do not.  The females also have smaller, straighter plumes. Their heads are the same color as their body colors - grey.  They also tend to be smaller than males.

They are very cool to watch.  They don't really fly.  They are predominately ground birds, living under bushes or large prickly pear cacti, but they can hop up onto my wall and off again. These birds can run at hyper-speeds, too. 

I wish they nested under my Texas Ranger bush but it might be slightly too far off the ground.  I know a bevy lives next door on each side of my house.  One family is under a bush and the other under a large Santa Rita prickly pear cactus.