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| Gambel's Quail |
How do you know if you've passed the test for a successful bird sanctuary in your garden for Tucson? It's not a permit by the city or by the environmental people. The true answer lies here with the Gambel's Quail. On my nightly walks into the Encanto neighborhoods, I heard the unmistakeable cry from the watcher.
He glimpsed me passing into his territory where he kept an eye out for his family below. Here, the watcher peers over the mesquite tree.
On the fence, his back is turned to me, but that quickly changes to a more defensive stance in the pic below.
This is one of my favorite desert birds here in Tucson. You'll find these birds on the outskirts of town and anywhere that is a desert sanctuary in town like the Encanto neighborhood in midtown. If you wonder whether or not you have a real wildlife sanctuary in Tucson, the true answer lies with this bird. It is finicky about certain places and if you have them in your garden, give yourself a pat on the back. You've just won Mother Nature's approval.
Keep your eyes open this spring for the chicks. I know a lot about these birds because a family, one year, decided to join my rainforest collection. If you remember my post from a long time ago on
Small Patio Spaces, you'll remember that I had been renting an apartment up in the Foothills without an outdoor space. So I created this protective area and the Quail found a way inside where they laid eggs and sat on them for a quite some time. I had been worried that the chicks would fall to their death after they hatched so I moved my patio table and created a chute for them to scoot down. And they did. And they lived for several days on my small patio where I fed them chicken feed. But one day, Father Watcher cried one last time for the birds to leave the area. Momma took them out....all 13 of them! and left my patio for good. It was a really sad moment for me but I actually felt good about helping this Quail family out. Will the El Presidio gardens pass the test? Only time will tell:)
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