Quail

I've never paid much attention to birds, but the quail who live in our neighborhood have captured our imagination. Every afternoon/early evening they parade across the back yards with the larger male with a coppery topknot leading the way. Several females follow along, and often we see small babies, no bigger than a cottonball, zooming along behind the adults. They can fly, but typically we see them running at high speed. Check out this video to see how quickly they run.

We amuse ourselves by watching the quail, trying to take pictures of the quail (not easy since they don't stand still for long and are easily spooked), and looking out for the babies. It seems we're not the only ones fascinated with quail. Today we went to an arts and craft market on the Prescott courthouse lawn and saw quail images on napkin holders and magazine racks along with paintings and photos of this cute bird.

Our first purchase to decorate our new house? A trio of bronzed quail from CopperAnza Furnishings that is now perched on the shelves in our living room.