California Quail

The quail have discovered the bird feeders outside our living room windows, and, since they are ground feeders, particularly the seeds the other birds drop.  We watched them for quite awhile this morning, and although they aren't skinny, they DO puff themselves up to look bigger and more intimidating. I find it hard to imagine how a quail could possibly ever look intimidating with his  forelock flopping forward over his face like a donkey following a carrot on a stick. I guess you have to be a quail. Although they are all over, I have found quail to be particularly elusive photographic subjects. My next challenge will be to capture a downy woodpecker clinging to the suet feeder. They are distinctive black and white birds with a jaunty red cap. (They are also pretty distinctive when they are pecking holes in our house in which to bury their acorns....)

Today I deemed it time to check out all the potted succulents (as opposed to the acres of them planted around the house), remove the ones that didn't survive the frost and consolidate the rest into one pot. I'm going to fill the rest with flowers, something notably missing in our rocky soil and desert landscaping.  Some plants looked like they still had some life left in them but my patience doesn't stretch to waiting for them to recover enough to look attractive. I put them out of their misery, and will go to the nursery for something satisfyingly showy. I'm not a very dedicated gardener and require instant gratification for my labors.