This past weekend, I was leaving home to meet up with Richard Wong for a day of shooting in San Francisco. As I left home I had to slam on the breaks as crossing the road out of our cul-du-sac was a brood of California Quail. We have had a number of California Quail visiting our back yard bird feeder for over a year now. This is the first time we have seen a new brood.
As the small brood of three chicks, Mom, and Dad crossed the road, one of the chicks had difficulty hopping up over the curb.
He was so small, he was about one third the height of the curb. I’m taking a guess that this could have been one of the first trips out that the brood took. Eventually the whole family turned around and headed back where they came from. After a bit of struggling, the last chick finally got over the curb and joined the family safely in the bushes.