A couple of sparrows decided they had found a nice dry place to wait out the rain. Shot through the blinds & window.

They just arrived a week or so ago, Lin. They stay for what I assume is their nesting season, then leave. Years ago, I rarely saw them, so I assume they're expanding their seasonal range or maybe shifting it for some reason.

plantladylin said:Thanks ladies, I've been having issues with my camera lately and my pictures don't seem to be as clear as usual ... but maybe it's not the camera but the person looking through the lens.

Linda, that Scott's Oriole is gorgeous! Is it a year round resident in your area?

Nice capture Linda! They sure are gorgeous birds. So bright!

Dry birds Ann!

Ann, that is a cute photo of the sparrows perched at the feeder and trying to escape the rain!

When I was out watering the front pots this morning I heard quite a commotion. Turns out the Quail eggs were just hatching. A couple babies were already moving around and they were startled by me watering in the area. They hopped right out of the nest. I felt terrible. Mom was squawking and trying to distract me. I did have the camera with me. I was able to capture one baby and return it to the nest. The little one felt very warm. I sure hope the other babies are OK.

Linda, if they hopped out of the nest it was probably time for them to fledge anyway. That little one you're holding looks like it's got lots of down on it so it can't be too young.

quietyard said:When I was out watering the front pots this morning I heard quite a commotion. Turns out the Quail eggs were just hatching. A couple babies were already moving around and they were startled by me watering in the area. They hopped right out of the nest. I felt terrible. Mom was squawking and trying to distract me. I did have the camera with me. I was able to capture one baby and return it to the nest. The little one felt very warm. I sure hope the other babies are OK.

Gosh what a cutie!!!!

Adorable!! Thanks for sharing, Linda!

I could swear that baby quail are fully covered in down and running amok as soon as they are born! We had huge amounts of them in Utah. It wasn't uncommon to see a set of parents with 15 babies, and they weren't even 2 inches tall. Had to save a few over the years, as the neighborhood cats would get many of them, and the babies couldn't keep up with the parents. My best friend used to drive them to a bird sanctuary whenever we had to save them from being eaten.

quietyard said:When I was out watering the front pots this morning I heard quite a commotion. Turns out the Quail eggs were just hatching. A couple babies were already moving around and they were startled by me watering in the area. They hopped right out of the nest. I felt terrible. Mom was squawking and trying to distract me. I did have the camera with me. I was able to capture one baby and return it to the nest. The little one felt very warm. I sure hope the other babies are OK.

Awww...so tiny and cute, bad timing for the babies to hatch, I hope their all ok too.

I think baby Quail do get active right away. I know a lot of them do not survive. Probably why Mom lays so many eggs. At last count this nest had 15 eggs, but I have had nests here with 18 or 19 eggs in the past. They are so cute all lined up behind the parents .

Been on the road for almost a week and have seen some things of interest. We really like to visit nurseries, gardens, and parks in our travels, we visited a few nurseries on the west coast near New Port Pichey, Fl. On our way to Daytona we toured Lew Gardens and it was just lovely. We have seen so many pairs of sand hill cranes in rural areas, it's crazy, they even have crossing signs. We also visited the wood stork and egret rookery in Port Richey, it was a first for us in that you could see the adults feeding the nestlings. Yesterday we visited a state park on the St. Johns River, I think it was an old sugar plantation. As we walked some of the trails we saw so many egrets, ibis, herons, as well as other birds that there was never a dull moment, even in the rain. We also saw a number of butterflies: flitteraries, monarchs, an swallow tails, but not as many as I expected.

A couple more:

I saw my first of the season Oriole this morning. I hurried to get the grape jelly and oranges out and scared him away. I have not seen him return yet. I wish I would have tried to get a picture before scaring him away. But since I saw one, they must be on their way here. I need to get the Hummingbird feeders out to. It has turned cooler this week. It is only 42 out now. We are suppose to get a couple of nights below freezing this week. I sure hope my plants don't get bothered by the cold.

Great pictures Ric.

Loved the picture of the baby Quail, Linda. Thanks for sharing.

Linda, that Quail baby is adorable!! Are they wild or do you raise them?

gardenglassgems said:Great pictures Ric.

Loved the picture of the baby Quail, Linda. Thanks for sharing.

plantladylin said:Linda, that Quail baby is adorable!! Are they wild or do you raise them?

Lin. The Quail are wild. Tucson is full of them.

Ric,
Are you and Holly here in Daytona Beach yet? I'm so sorry for this horrible weather we've been having, so much rain is sure no fun when you are on vacation! I mowed our lawn this afternoon while hubby did the string-trimming, edging etc. and we got done just as the thunder and lightning started. We're apparently under severe thunder storm warnings until 7:00 p.m. I sure hope it gets better so that y'all are able to get in some scuba diving while in Fla! It's really odd for us to be having so much rain this early in the year (winter/spring is our dry season) with summer usually bringing the afternoon thunderstorms ... but we've had a warm winter and spring so I guess the rains have come early!

It sounds like y'all have visited a lot of gardens/parks since you've been in Fla. and you've gotten some great photos! Looks like a juvenile white Ibis in that first photo and I love the Wood Storks in pic #4 and those gorgeous Sandhill Cranes. That looks like an American Coot in the first photo of your second set of pictures, I've seen them at the Merritt Island Nat'l Wildlife Refuge in the winter time.

Tell Holly to give me a call later in the week if y'all are going to still be around the Daytona Beach area, maybe we can meet for lunch somewhere if my husband Pete and I are in town. We may be heading south to Sebastian for a couple of days but aren't completely sure yet about our schedule for later in the week. If we are in town we'd love to meet you two!

quietyard said: The Quail are wild. Tucson is full of them.

How cool! The Northern Bobwhite: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g... are wild here and I used to see them in my backyard at our old house but it's been years. They are the cutest little things.