With all this young life in the desert right now, problems always occur. We have been seeing new quail families this week, the babies about 1-inch tall but fully functional. They eat by themselves, run like the dickens, and even fly. Yet, if the parents are not vigilant, and not all of them are, the families are steadily diminished. Today there are 10 chicks, perhaps tomorrow 8. There is much danger out there, even in just getting separated from the family.
When stopping by Dave and Barbara's this morning, we saw a young curvebilled thrasher trying to fledge the nest on their porch, but it got hung up in the baling twine used as nest building material. Poor thing was dangling by a leg, and thankfully we were around to get it disentangled. After freeing it we set it on the ground, but the leg appeared too compromised, so Dave set it back in the nest. Hopefully the leg will heal and allow it to still go out in the world in good health.
3 comments:
Good for you all! And, wasn't it neat to see the baby bird up close and personal.
I've always been so amazed at the killdeer who lay their eggs right on the ground for anything and everything to step on. One day last year I saw a couple of babies - they must have just hatched - !!!!!!! they were so tiny, just nestling in the dirt - I wonder if they made it. but they probably did because many are back this year!
- The Equestrian Vagabond
We had some killdeer in Oregon that laid their eggs in the barn aisle! Had to lead the horses to pasture around the nest. Must have been a case of "I have got to go NOW".
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