More Garden Visitors

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The quail here are among the several parents of literally hundreds of babies they raised in the gardens. Every summer the surrounding hillsides went dry and were eaten short by the cattle. The quail would literally build their nests in the flower beds and raise their babies by the hundreds every year. It was so dense that the predators who were in every night never managed to eat many of the babies. The parents only grew mildly tolerant of us. They'd move the family to flower beds near the fence and not call the alarm when I was in the garden. The parents are very loyal to each other and protective of the babies. The male will perch on a high spot and watch carefully his family and the surroundings for danger. They are absolutely charming and the number of quail has gone way up because of the garden nestings.

Hummingbirds and butterflies live in the garden too. The picture shows both of the feeders with 4 birds going at each. Because they are such intense competitors for food they often stare each other down before they put their bills in to drink. This continues below.

 

I had to make the picture big enough to see the little fighters. During the summer they drank both of these empty every single day. Each feeder used 1/2 cup of sugar so combined the hummers ate 1 cup of pure sugar DAILY! It was far more than we did for sure! We also had GIANT feeders to hold a week's worth in each if we were going away. They were so heavy and hard to use though I only made the effort for the trips. The hummers nested and roosted in the nearby oaks where we could see their ruby throat sparkle brilliantly like jewels in the trees. They routinely patrolled the area and fearlessly drove off hawks and ravens to the benefit of the quail.

Other visitors were deer (Unwelcome!), coyote, Bobcats (no relation), cougar (rare), jack & cottontail rabbits, squirrels, lots of Bluebirds too! We've got flocks of 6 that bath daily in our bird "puddle" I built for them. Lots of songbirds, Towhees, Phoebes, Titmice and Junkos, White Crowned and other song sparrow species, Robins, and boistrous scrub jays and lots of migrating birds for short stays. Golden eagles, vultures, hawks, falcons, kites and other various raptors sailed in the valleys below and the thermals beyond. Dogs and cats came and went. Most of these that stayed too long got eaten by coyotes and such. And of course the cattle and horses. And people too, just fewer and less fuzzy than the usual assortment. We welcomed them all.