Friday, August 10, 2012

Sunflowers and Quail

My sister is growing a couple of rows of sunflowers...

...and my mother is stitching a sunflower.
Is that synergy or what? 
I'm hoping she finishes just as the sunflowers begin to bloom.

Time once again for a Bird Count - courtesy of Padma and Parvati.

No shortage of Hummingbirds!

They are amazing pollinators - I've watched them work most all my plants, and they've been busy in my sister's garden - sipping from tomatoes, morning glory, cucumbers, and winter squash.

I can't remember ever having so many Quail Families as we have this year.  I've kinda' given up keeping them all sorted out.  Single parent Atticus Quail now has a parent aka 'Modern Family' as you can see in the above photo.  Cam and Mitchell, as I now call them, are still watching over 15 babies - this was the first group born and are the biggest (size-wise).

This is another Quail family - the babies are younger and there are at least 12 of them - along with a Mama and a Papa.
I think we have a couple of more families too - one with a single mother as the only parent of a group of 12 - and another group of 8-10 with both parents.

I've included this shot as a gentle reminder to myself about 'interfering with Nature.'  I saw this Papa Quail out in the open - motionless - for several minutes.  I thought - napping?  Naw.  Hurt? Maybe.  So I got closer.  As it turns out he was motionless for a reason.  There was a hawk perched in a tree right above him.  He acted as a decoy to protect his mate and the many baby quail who were all motionless and hidden in the grass nearby.  That was the case anyway until I got too close, startled him and all the other quail, AND the hawk!  I then rushed through the grass and brambles to make sure that no one got injured / killed due to my stupidity - and to make sure the hawk flew off.  I did get the hawk to leave the area without anyone for breakfast.  Lesson: The Quail were doing just fine without my bumbling around!

5 comments:

cucki said...

I love sun flowers so much ..and your mom stitching is so cute too..
Quail family is looking so lovely ..
Enjoy your weekend.
Hugs xxx

Margaret said...

Love sunflowers! Great pics of the hummingbirds and quail too. Whew about that hawk with the quail! It really is amazing how the quail know what to do without our help. :D

Ann at Beadlework. said...

The hummingbirds are so bonnie, as always. Your quail story made me smile.

Barb said...

Your quail adventure sounds exactly like something I would do!! It made me laugh!

blue star stitcher said...

How scary with the hawk and the quail. We used to have owl in our neighborhood that were so neat to listen to at night, but it still made me sad to see them catch the prairie dogs or baby bunnies.