giannamaria's Favorites

I heard a very different bird noise coming from the yard today. Looked out the window and found a female Bobwhite Quail pecking at some lasagna that I had put out for the raccoons. She was soon joined by a male and the pair of them walked right up to my feet! In ten years I've never had Bobwhites actually in the yard. I am surrounded by 100s of acres of rural countryside and can occasionally hear them calling in the distance. At first I thought the little female was banded but in that last photo it looks like she has an abrasion to the front of her shin (both legs actually). These appear to be adults but why they were so unafraid of me is puzzling? (Hays County)

These observations were from my second day at the ranch in Kinney County in April. The Gray Vireo and Varied Bunting were life (new) birds for me, I saw a third that day, Black-capped Vireo but I was not able to capture an image of it.

Scaled Quail
Callipepla squamata
two individuals with one
Northern Bobwhite
Colinus virginianus
Dos Venadas Ranch,
Starr Co., Texas
30 April 2009
This male Bobwhite has been seen many times hanging around with a small group of Scaled Quail. This Bobwhite seems to ignore other Bobwhites in the area. Both species occur at this location.

Awwww...This HAS to be my all time fave!!!
Blanding's are known as the smiling turtle..& most pics I've see of them they are smiling...except get a load of photo #2, the one on the right is NOT smiling...Interesting...maybe the other had bad turtle breath or something....
However in the last pic the one on the right has this real smirk on its face, with the half closed eyes...are they flirting?
The little Midland is looking at them as much to say, what are you two up to anyways?
Posting is for the 2 Blanding's