Look at this photo of the quail egg.Can you see the unique spots on this egg?
Gambel quail eggs are quite distinct.
I was sad that the eggs did not hatch but grateful for the opportunity to create this photographic study.
Check out our travel photos of the designs of Denmark at Viva la Voyage!
6 comments:
Quail eggs are rather small, are they not? I'm curious about your statement that they did not hatch...were they supposed to? Do you own quail??
I did not know, but had never thought about, the spots on quail eggs being unique.
Kate, the answer to your question is that Julie and I do not own quail, but they live in and visit our yard all the time. We leave some of our bushes very bushy at ground level, rather than trimming them up, so that the quail have places to live and hide from coyotes and cats.
The problem is that sometimes quail will lay their eggs in the big cactus pots (about 3 feet high) on our patio. Sometimes the quail sit on the eggs for weeks, but the eggs do not hatch and eventually the quail leave.
We think that maybe it gets too hot in the pots because there is little air circulation below the rim of the pot.
Another problem is that when the quail hatch down in a pot, sometimes 6 or 8 inches below the rim, the baby quail cannot climb up out of the pot. It is impossible to pick up the baby quail to help them out because the run around like supercharged ping pong balls. It is like a hopeless video game.
Julie will take towels and drape them out of the pots and over a series of boxes that she puts in stair step fashion to enable the baby quail to get out. The quail parents will watch the process and then rescue their babies after the babies get out.
Ahhh...the designs of mother nature!
The quail in my backyard are not laying eggs here anymore because of my dogs. I miss seeing the tiny babies hatch out of the nest.
Sorry they did not come to hatchling fruition, but this is a great b&w study...
After reading Dave's comments, though, maybe it's a good thing they didn't hatch!
A fun, interesting and artsy week of Quail eggs/nest photos!
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