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| Plum - lonely no longer |
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| The happy gang of three |
Earlier this year we managed to find three lovely girls to join our solitary boy. They were, however, very young, and we didn't expect much to come of it, we were just pleased he had company at last. Sadly one girl had a misadventure quite quickly (possibly encountering rat poison) and we lost her. There were still two others, and the little group of three settled in nicely. They are extremely shy, and live mostly deep in a large clump of grasses, rarely venturing far.
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| Plum's girls |
One afternoon I was weeding nearby, and became aware of unusual cheeping noises. Intrigued, I went to investigate. I found Plum, his two girls - and a tiny dark chick! I raced to the house to tell my daughter, and when we came back to the garden, my daughter found a nest and four broken eggs...
We waited for the birds to come out for food - and yes, darting around the adult birds there were indeed four chicks! They were so small, and so wary they were almost impossible to photograph. It wasn't until they were a few days old that we finally managed a picture - and it's not very good.
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| A proud father, with first chick! |
We were shocked to notice a couple of extras coming for the daily seed distribution - two mice moved in with Plum and his family a few days ago - they didn't seem to pose any threat to the birds, but they weren't really given the chance! Plum and the girls would puff up to twice their size, raise their wings and dart at the mice whenever they saw them, making a strange low growling call. The mice would disappear immediately, creeping back when they could, eating the seeds. We caught one, and dispatched it, and the other seems to have left. The chicks are growing unbelievably fast - we'll try and get more pictures.
I love hearing about the Gumtree quails. I have a little tribe and I spend hours watching them and adjusting the environment in their pen; places to hide, rest, feed and play etc
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear of Plum's new arrangement. I had two little males together for a long time while I was waiting to find some females to fill their lives. They were great companions, constantly talking to each other, snuggling and preening together. The silver male was the leader in courage, curiosity, innovation, feeding and play. Also he was the one showing the most engagement with me. (They have their own little cane observation hide to and seem to love watching me too!)
Eventually I located two females and once the females were housed nearby the males became fierce antagonists.
Then separately housed, they became happy and cooperative pairs and the hens immediately started laying. The nesting behaviours, nest building, egg organising and sitting in the last week has been shared by both birds often with the little silver male especially taking the initiative.
The excitement and pipping and conversation in the last week of incubation was wonderful to see/hear. To find one morning the tiny golden head of the first bumlebee sized chick peeping out from the mother's feathers has made an indelible delightful image in my mind.
And yes the silver guy particularly has been super engaged with raising the family. The babies equally running to him and nestling up in his feathers. One morning when they were quiet bigger I saw a the silver baby looking a bit miserable. The mother came and had a chat to her then went off to find her mate who came and attended the little one sitting beside, talking, encouraging feeding etc. She is a smaller chick and the only silver one of three and he seems to look out for her.
Now with the chicks having grown mature their is antagonism to the young male. Also the father is restless. I am thinking that he wants to lead the family to new territory where I reckon naturally the family would distribute by attrition, by other pairings etc. I think that is great that your quails have the orchard to roam in. I am yet to sort how I can give mine opportunity to run safely in my garden.
It is a beautiful privilege to be able to share life with these lovely little animals. And thank you for adding to enjoyment with this blog.
PS. I will add some more details about the shared nesting at another time.
Hello - thank you so much for this! It's fascinating to hear about your Kings. Our four babies seem to be reaching the age where they seek out their own territory - two look like they might be males, and the other two are females. It will be really interesting to see what happens next. Thanks again - and please do tell us more about shared nesting - we didn't actually see our female sitting (the grass where they hang out is too long, so much of their lives are shrouded in secrecy!)
ReplyDeleteI have the quails living close and they and I enjoy observing each other going about our daily lives. The nesting of course has been a pleasure to watch. They gathered the few scattered first laid eggs into suitable area by rolling them towards themselves. The eggs roll safely as the egg shape determines that they always roll inwards. (the shape too means that they fit nicely together in the nest)
ReplyDeleteBelow is a note from my 'Quail Tales' from 23/8/2017
'My little friends have been busy. And both little females are laying again. Beautiful little olive speckled eggs. Lately the male partners have been gathering them into sheltered corners of their home and busy pulling pine needles,grasses, leaves and small twigs and even Jack Russell hairs around them.
On Saturday I found the cinnamon coloured girl busy rolling the eggs about and testing with them for sitting suitability in different spots in the pen … that is until her little silver male came upon the scene and promptly rolled the eggs back to the place that he has made in the shelter of a small log!
And on Wednesday the eggs (and one new one) are still in his selected nest!'
In regard to secrecy. My little ones have places to hang out in private but generally they go about their busy little chook like ways in full view scratching and sitting, sunning and preening. However I do notice that they are a bit more wary if a visitor is about. And after I have had to catch one for some reason they can be quiet funny in their efforts to avoid my gaze.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting point from close viewing: I had taken two young ones in a decked out quail habitat celluloid box (like an old fashioned shirt box)into a nursing home. (and that's another heartwarming story).
When I put them back in their pen I left the box with them and was pleased to find that all of them use it in turns as their very own solarium. They seem to love to frequent it often; stretching out and sun bathing and sleeping in apparent luxury.