Scaled Quail celebrating last day of October 2014

Got back from work today and was happy to see this male cottontop checking things out from the top of our courtyard wall. This was a really good year for the quail with at least two large broods from at least two pairs each. Predation, however, is extremely high as the babies are easy targets from coyotes, owls, hawks, and the assholes that let their cats run loose outside. That said it was still successful and there are still quite a few of the babies (now all grown up) left.

Adult male scaled quail