Quail are ground birds. (Tracy from Adelaide asked me about them.) They're little and fat with a funny twiggy thing on their heads. They can fly but they prefer to walk, and I see them most often sprinting headlong across the road. They hang out together in a flock, but they're so skittery that some members of the flock can get really spread out, and then the look-out (there's always a designated look-out) starts to shout. Actually he talks pretty much continually while the others eat -- I imagine he's saying, "We are here! Follow my voice!" -- but if the stragglers get too far away he makes a louder, sharper call which means, "Catch up!" And they do.
When startled the whole flock (stragglers and all) will flush – they fly up into the trees in a way wikipedia calls "short and explosive" – and their voices and wings together make a distinctive sound that I find cheerful, but which to them is probably something like, "Aaaaaaaaaaaa!"
I have a lot of affection for quail. The sound they make is very soothing, and I like the way they look out for each other. Sasha believes that quail are my totem but I think not; I think that if I were a quail, I'd hate the way the look-out is always insisting that the group stay together, and I'd hide in a tree out of stubbornness!
2 comments:
I love your quail, especially the silly little bobble on their heads. We have grouse that are just as road runner silly and explosive. In winter they dig into the snow overnight and blow out as you pass by the next morning. Instant heart attach.
Mary, that's funny! I wonder if the quail do that. We don't usually have deep snow for any length of time here.
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