Things are slowing down at the Lonesome Duck Ranch so I am
trying to get back into the swing of blogging. The Psychedelic Robin is part of
a tease and I hope to inform you about that within a few days. Can you guess
what it is about? The rest of the tease is the critter above and following:
It's a rather “rare bird” for us, coming regularly to our
cabin this year. It is the Mountain Quail. Do not confuse it with the much, much
more common California Quail, sometimes called valley quail. The Mountain Quail
does live in mountainous country, especially if there is lots of brush. It is
the largest quail of six native species in the U.S. Can you tell why I call it
the “Robin Hood Quail?” It's that long plume that sticks back from the top of
its head like Robin Hood’s feather in his hat. The California Quail has a head
plume that droops forward in a comma shape. Until this year we only saw the Mountain Quail
briefly about once a year; and that was usually at the very base of the
mountain on the east side of the ranch. This year they discovered our irrigated
lawns with their White Clover, and(!) the bird feeders. They have been showing
up now for well over a month, sometimes several times per day. It is a large
covey of at least two families, with young of different ages, numbering over a
dozen birds. The close-up of the bird's head was taken while he was preening on our picnic table, outside the window about eight feet away!
It has been a busy year and I have not had time to keep up. I
managed to work in a trip to Hawaii and then Russia which really put a pinch on
time; more about those trips later (maybe when the snow piles up). I kept a
crude log of other events so here are some of the nature happenings. I hope to
expound on them some too, as fall and winter continue, AND, include some
photos:
9/20/2012: I saw an American Dipper, i.e., a Water Ouzel,
while I was trout fishing in a rocky canyon of the North Fork of the Sprague
River.
9/19/2012: A Band-tailed Pigeon was between our cabin and
the Williamson River. They are large, native Pigeons from the forests of the
wet (west) side of the mountains. We only see them here about once every other
year. They are bigger than the introduced Rock Dove, the common pigeon of
cities and farms.
9/17-24/2012: A late season female Wood Duck has come to our
bird feeders along the Williamson River most mornings. The Mountain Quail are
still visiting us too.
9/6/2012: Juncos have descended from the mountains around us
in preparation for fall and winter.
9/4/2012 and ff thru 9/24/2012: Deadly tag - at least 2
Sharp-shinned Hawks and Steller’s Jays have been harassing each other in the yard.
I found a headless Pine Siskin on the 4th and since then the remains
of a Mourning Dove, an unidentified sparrow, and several jays. That’s nature
too! The hawks are very impressive too.
8/26/2012: Wilson's Snipe seen in wetland in north pasture
on Sunday. Yes there really are snipe, and there is a hunting season (in the
daytime, with shotguns!!). I saw a pair of them about a week later…and Muskrats
foraging in the tules.
8/25/2012: Colorful trout and 2 Bench-leg deer bucks (Mule
Deer x Blacktail hybrid) caught and seen, respectfully on east slopes of
Mountain Lakes Wilderness area. Hoping to post a picture of the trout later.
8/23/2012: Lots of the first Greater White-fronted Geese of
the season as well as a Swainson’s Hawk, Greater Yellowlegs, and another
shorebird seen as indications of migration seen while leading a nature tour in
the Upper Basin.
1 comment:
Sir Lonesome Duck:
So glad you are posting again. I see I have much to learn about your wildlife friends and very much look forward to it.
As to the Psychedlic kid, I believe I see vague images within its plumage. (Am I getting close?)
As to the Robin Hood guy, his headgear makes this moniker self-evident! (How am I doing?)
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