Quail are a wonderful part of the south Okanagan, first time visitors are always amazed and amused by the little fussy birds. Once or twice our guests have asked us if we trap or shoot them, for food. I’m sure our shocked silence gives them the answer immediately.

Coming to Oliver 26 years ago and buying the BelAir motel was our first experience with quail. Our regular, long term campers would feed them so the quail had their regular feeding schedule. Around 8.00am they would come from up the campground, where several people fed them then follow the exact same path, every time they arrived, over the pool deck, off the wall, across the grass, across the parking lot and to our patio, where they got our daily offering. Around 4.00pm they did the same circuit again but we never fed them in the afternoon as our cat was usually about. However they never varied from this route and always came at 8.00am and 4.00, for all the years we lived there.

Once we moved up to our new home, on the top acre of the property, they started off at our place and then headed off, under the hedge, to the campground.

The quail are always a lot of fun to watch, in winter about forty of them travelling together and then, as the weather warmed into May, they start to pair off and travel in just two’s. Many nests were found in the campground and avoided by the regular folks, who were interested in watching the families develop. Quite often the clutch of eggs would seem to have been abandoned, for no apparent reason and eggs left to be eaten by passing wildlife. By June most birds had a batch of 15-20 walnut sized followers, you could just see the movement of the top of their heads over the grass.

Dad quail, always a nervous sort, seems to be in a panic as his brood followed Ma Quail, and acts like a sheepdog, rounding up any strays and keeping them moving in the right direction. His high pitched three note call always alerts us that the troops are about to parade by. As day follows day the number of chicks get picked off by scavengers and soon the family are down to two or three chicks. At this point the families seem to see the value of travelling in groups and two or three pairs would be seen with 8 or 9 chicks in tow.

I wonder why nature gives these birds the ability to lay so many eggs, why not just one or two eggs that would be easier to manage?

This past spring my dogs discovered that quail eggs are a delicacy and they have eaten everything they discovered, however, the quail seem to survive and raised a couple of chicks, so they must have discovered a spot away from marauding Bichons. Nature always finds a way and I am so happy that the quail do their twice daily parade through the yard.

Long may they prosper.