Here’s the mom:

Are you ready to coo?  Here are the babies!

Their feet are really big compared to the rest of their body.

There were five babies.  The dad was really good at watching to make sure that I didn’t hurt the babies.  Of course I wouldn’t hurt the babies, but I would scoop them up and try to raise them in the house.  I keep trying to convince Jon that we should raise a chicken in the house, but he’s not convinced that it’s a good idea.

In Arizona I saw a new kind of quail called the Gambel’s Quail.  These guys looks pretty much the same as California Quails except that their heads have a lighter reddish color.

Here’s a California Quail for comparison.

The Gambel’s Quails were just as skittish as our California Quails.  The only reason that I have any good pictures of California Quails is that I know their hiding spots and babies are more tolerant of being near strange humans with giant cameras.  Gambel’s Quails can only be found in the Southwest so soak up my one picture.  Wikipedia also has an adorable picture of the babies.

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But a few weeks ago I made it to the Red Butte Gardens, which is becoming quite busy with activity!  There were tons of secretive quails bursting out of bushes and flying away.  This is the best picture I got of a female California Quail.

But even better, I saw a new life bird!  The Lincoln’s Sparrow.

I feel very lucky because according to my field guides, they don’t usually appear in this part of Utah.  The trick with identifying the Lincoln’s Sparrow is the white patch that starts at the base of his beak and moves below his eye and the grey eyebrow.  Compare the Lincoln’s Sparrow above to the Song Sparrow:

They’re pretty close, right?  Until I read about the Song Sparrows having a whiter eyebrow I thought the birds in both these pictures were the Lincoln’s Sparrow because I couldn’t see the Song Sparrow’s main distinguishing mark, which is a brown spot on the center of his chest:

From this angle he looks very different.  Here’s a comparison with the Lincoln’s Sparrow:

The Lincoln’s Sparrow has a greater contrast in his mutton chops.  I also noticed that the tips of the Song Sparrow’s wings form an upside down “L” of dark brown feathers.  The Lincoln’s Sparrow has dark brown tips in rows.  Lastly, the Lincoln’s Sparrow can raise the feathers on his head sort of like a crest.  Soon I will be a sparrow expert!

He reminds me of one of those 20′s flapper costumes with the shaggy bottoms and the headdress.  I think the quail is male because the males have a black head and the females are mostly brown.  Here is another male baby quail with more of the black coming into the face.

The quail below is probably female because she has a lot more brown coloring.

I think it’s pretty clear from the picture of these two of them together that they are different sexes.

Below is an adult male California Quail, presumably the dad.  His head is black and he also has gray on the top of his breast.  The first quail in this series also has gray on his breast and he has a white stripe above his eye that looks like it’s the start of the dramatic white stripe above the male’s eye.

It is really hard to pick my favorite shots from this series because they’re all really good.  I was extremely lucky that the quails let me take pictures from only about four feet away.  Also, the lighting is perfect.  So many times I bird in the rain or when it’s too dark because it’s the only time available.  This was a bright sunny afternoon.  I love this picture because she’s looking right at the camera.

But this one where she is settling back down into the dirt is great too because you can see each one of the feathers on her back.

Have you seen my pirouette?

The mountains remind me of California because they’re so dry.

And in between some pine trees I found baby quails!

There were so many of them!

The babies were spreading out in front of the sun and kicking up dirt.

The theory is that the combination of dirt and sun kill the mites.

Doesn’t he look happy?

He’s a California quail. He’s so beautiful! You can’t tell in this picture, but his breast feathers are really shiny. He looked right at me.
I noticed that he was watching an area behind the cactuses very intently. I looked over, and saw the female.

The best part? Babies!!!

In all the pictures, I can’t find more than three babies, but I think there were five. The mom saw me too, and I couldn’t get any closer.

They seem pretty close to fledging even though they’re so tiny.

As the family left the area, dad stayed at the back to protect them.

I can see why the California quail is the state bird. They’re so lovely. They’re also quite common. I’ve seen them in the forest near my house and at my favorite park: Butano State Park. This was my first glimpse of babies, though. Have I mentioned how much I love Spring?