Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a 2011 full of health, love, joy, peace and even in these difficult times - prosperity
I have been ill with a cold/flu thing that has been really hard to shake so I've been absent from visiting blogs and from posting but I will be reading between naps.
The closest I've been to any nature in a long while has been my own backyard but it doesn't have as many exciting birds as some of your yards do. I'm continually amazed at the number of bird and animal photos captured that way. I've seen more wildlife from people blogging in urban areas than I ever saw all the years I lived in the country.
These California Quail are sweet little birds that were introduced here to help eliminate bugs in the orchards. I'm sure the first ones were not too happy with all the snow but somehow they've survived and even flourished in this area.
They are such friendly birds that you often have to wait for them to move when driving or walking. Although they can fly, they usually choose to run instead.
For years, I never saw them in the winter and have often wondered where they went but then one day, I purchased a bag of bird feed with a large amounts of ground corn in it and I don't know how they found out but not even 2 hours later a whole flock arrived.
I am so pleased that in spite of the local cats, coyotes, hawks and owls, they are so numerous. California Quail are one of the nicest surprises I discovered in this area.
Well forgive me if there are mistakes I keep reading this over and over to edit it and am not absorbing anything so I'm just going to post it.
