G-Mom has been dying to show you some of the birds in our back yard, so I am introducing Feather Friday, so she can have one day a week to show off her birds. Just ONE day G!! So here goes her first Feather Friday.
Today's bird is the California Quail.
This is the state bird of California.
These birds have a curving crest or plume, made of six feathers, that droops forward: black in males and brown for females; the flanks are brown with white streaks. Males have a dark brown cap and a black face with a brown back, a grey-blue chest and a light brown belly. Females and immature birds are mainly grey-brown with a light colored belly.
Their diet consists mainly of seeds and leaves, but they also eat some berries and insects; for example, Toyon berries are a common food source.
And as you can see, these birds like bread too.
If startled, these birds explode into short rapid flight, called "flushing". Given a choice, they will normally make their escape on foot.
Their breeding habitat is shrubby areas and open woodlands in western North America.
They live on the hill behind our house.
I hope you enjoyed G-Mom's first episode of Feather Friday!!
The third bird in our Feather Friday series is the Black-headed Grosbeak. It is a common and familiar bird of the American West. It can be found in the mountain forests, along desert streams, or in backyards and gardens. In the winter, it flies to Mexico.
The Black-headed Grosbeak is a large, stocky finch. The male and female differ greatly in their plumage, with the male being a flashy black, white, and cinnamon, and the female a drab buff and brown.
It likes to eat insects,caterpillars,seeds, berries and fruit. It picks at the bread I throw on the lawn, but does not particularly like it.
The female Grosbeak lays three to four light blue or green eggs with red brown spots. They are laid in a loosely built stick nest lined with rootlets, grass, and leaves, and built among dense foliage on an outer tree limb. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by both parents.
