Family Finds Refuge

A family of 14 moved into our back yard a few days ago. The 12 “children” were hatched in the back yard of Len and Liz Darnbrough, just a few houses away from ours in Sunningdale. Maybe Ma and Pa Quail were the ones who had been invading Helen’s garden earlier in spring. She replanted the carrots three times. They must have thought this place is Paradise – The Garden of Helen! So here were 12 little balls of fluff scurrying around after Ma Quail just one day after hatching. Must have been already learning how to find food for themselves. Pa Quail was on a fencepost, and vigorously sounded the alarm when I approached the garden. All 12 immediately obeyed Pa. Ma hid them all under the raspberry bushes. How did they know what to do? It’s programmed into their DNA.

The whole process was a sight to behold. It took the edge off the frustrated feelings we had toward the parent quails for gobbling up the carrot shoots. Sadly, less than half of the chicks will live to adulthood. Tough – really tough! The next day the “family” came back with 9 chicks. Obviously the Creator knew what He was doing when he gave quails the potential for 12 chicks two times a year and grizzly bears only one, and that not even every year.

Today the quail seemed to have moved on to someone else’s yard. We’ll kind of miss them but we’ll still put the netting above the strawberries and peas next spring.

Those little chicks really brought on a sunny smile,

Henry Wiebe