Birds in the land of Dorthy

[Phil C]

Calvin I have often wondered the same thing. A friend of mine has a half dozen Gambel quail that raise clutches of birds every year around his barn and out buildings. Dave keeps a pretty close eye on these birds through out the nesting period. He told me the largest nest he has found was 22 eggs and incredibly they all hatched. Location of the nest as well as material that the nests are made of makes a big difference I believe.
This year Dave went to one of his buildings about 10:00 PM and had a quail fly out. She was sitting on a nest that was high enough off the ground that he needed a ladder to look at the eggs of which there was nine. Dave was concerned that the nest would be lost. The next morning she had not returned. Later that day he carefully peered in again and could just make out the top of her head and she was back on the nest. For the next 3 weeks Dave would give me regular reports. We were sure the eggs would not hatch. One morning I got a call, you won't believe it I just checked the nest and all 9 eggs hatched. I asked if the chicks were still in the nest? Nope, Dave reminded me quail unlike dove or other birds need to start scratching out a living from the day they are born.