We had been wondering where all the California quail chicks had been for much of June.  It seemed that we made it through the winter with only five adult quail, four males and a single female.  We now are almost overrun with both quail and chicks.  We have at least two mated pair with chicks, another pair without any chicks and a single male.  But after yesterday (7/23/2018) I’m no longer sure what we have!

It now appears that two pair may have combined families as we saw at least four adult quail with 15-20 chicks of at least two different sizes crossing the road in front of us in the afternoon.  In addition, a pair with very young chicks continues to visit the yard and segregate their young from their larger cousins.  And while we were out cruising the neighborhood we encountered yet another family with a substantial number of young.

It’s somewhat difficult photographing the young chicks as any suspicious movement or approach on my part incites the parents to send the young into the bushes.  But here is a sample of what I have managed thus far…

This is an example of one of the larger chicks, now approaching the adults in terms of size if not plumage.

This is an example of one of the smaller chicks, well-camoflauged.

While I was in the yard I got this photo of a juvenile Spotted towhee, a youngster that has plumage that looks nothing like its parents.

I photographed this male American goldfinch on a staging stick donated by a friend… a gift that keeps on giving!

I managed over a dozen photos of this male Black-headed grosbeak which, after prolonged due diligence which gave me the opportunity for the photos, finally accessed a small platform feeder.  In the weeks after the grosbeaks first arrived they were much bolder, whereas now they usually visit the yard, see me and leave without feeding or bathing.

And finally, I photographed several hummingbirds feeding on our salvias.  This is apparently a female Anna’s hummingbird, but we also have at least one male and several female Rufous hummingbirds.  The male Rufous hummingbirds have already left our yard to migrate south.

On this morning (7/23) I finished reading my newspaper and made a check of the watercourse from the kitchen about 5:20am.  It wasn’t good light yet but I could see a “sparrow-like” bird near the watercourse.  It would normally be too early for ANY bird and this one was very active… too active for a sparrow.  It was time to use the binoculars… and they revealed a juvenile Swainson’s thrush, the only one I can ever recall seeing.  There was much too little light for a photo (sorry, but not as sorry for you as for me!) and after taking a brief bath the bird flew straight-away into the woods.