Some dramatic moments, but quail baby is safe

Today one of our many quail familes was visiting in the back yard, and suddenly I heard terrified quail chattering, followed by a loud thud against my office window--the one right by the back door. I looked up from my desk to see our neighborhood chicken hawk perched in the spot he always chooses--right above the bird feeder.

The reason I always take note of hawks is that they are HUGE. When they land on the limb that holds the bird feeder, it dips 6 inches. When they fly in they knock down leaves in their path, and everyone else leaves...and stay gone for a long time. They scare me.

When I went to the back door to take a picture of the hawk, I noticed that one of the tiny quail-ettes was cowering against the screen by my office window; he probably got lodged there when the quail scattered. I'm pretty sure the hawk had his eye on this itty bitty, defenseless quail-ling.

I didn't want to scare the little quail out into the open, so I went around to the side of the house to take the hawk's picture. When I started walking toward him he swooped away, nearly giving the other quail heart attacks; they must have been waiting around to recover their baby, but they all made a huge racket as they high-tailed it out of there. Quail aren't the most graceful birds in the world.

Outcome: The baby quail ran off to find his parents, and the hawk left without lunch. I'm sure he'll find some other poor unsuspecting creature to eat instead.

End of dramatic quail-hawk story.