We saw our first California quail chicks about a week ago but the parents wouldn’t let them venture far beyond our brush pile, which was out of effective photographic range. I’ve been in the yard almost daily and the parents with chicks keep ranging further and further, and yesterday (June 11, 2020) they finally made it into photographic range. So here are some photos of the quail chicks!

The chicks made several forays into the greater yard so I got multiple opportunities for photos. Later in the day, as I was in the process of shutting down for the afternoon, I happened to notice the parents with their chicks in another area of the yard and obtained this photo. They were all huddled around their mother and enjoying what little sun there was. I estimate that there are about 10-12 chicks. If even half make it to maturity it will be a good year.

Yesterday was a great day for photography… slightly overcast with our salvias in full bloom and with a small contingent of hummingbirds. I took 257 photos and most of them were of hummingbirds… and a surprising number were good photos. Target acquisition and focusing are always problematic with hummingbirds and many of the photos end up on the proverbial cutting room floor.

These are photos of a female Rufous hummingbird accessing one of our Lipstick salvias.

I’ve noticed recently that there is a male American goldfinch that didn’t seem to properly perch when it landed. Yesterday I looked closer and it appears that the bird has some kind of foot deformity. I see such conditions a lot more than one might expect since I’m able to examine details in photographs that an observer might not notice in the field. I had thought about posting a blog showing related observations but then decided it was too morbid. Some of the birds seem to live well with their handicaps and other birds seem to disappear after a few days.