Anything Quail!
Inspired by nesting quail on the family property, here’s one collector whose passion for all-things quail has taken flight
For some unknown reason, I have always loved California quail. We would see the odd couple at our previous homes, and when we moved to our current location in May 2003, I was delighted to find that we had more than 25 pairs of quail ready to nest. And nest they did, in every bush and tree we had on our property, as well as on our neighbour’s land. What a delight the little babies are when they are born! We have spent so many hours watching these and other quail families bond and grow. This fascination with live quail soon became the basis for collecting and displaying “anything and everything” quail inside and outside of our home.
Our first order of business was to name our new home “Quail Stop Cottage” and we had a professional sign made. From there, the collection just happened. I would see something with quail on it and just had to have it. Friends and family have purchased many items for us over the years as well. I was honoured to receive a wonderful set of solid brass quail after a good friend’s mother passed away.
In addition to the above-mentioned, my collection includes T-shirts, bookmarks, paintings and figurines, and a very special serving jug and glasses hand-painted by a local artist in Vernon, B.C., about 30 miles away from Kelowna. One of my best friends Anna-marie purchased the jug as a gift for us and, of course, I then just had to have the glasses!
In case you’re wondering, we still have quail visiting our cottage, but not in the numbers we used to get 13 years ago. It seems that the magpies and crows are getting too many of the quail eggs before they hatch. We’re still trying to figure out how to stop this from happening, but nature is nature, and we’ll just have to wait it out and hope that quail numbers will soon be on the rise once again.