Baby quail and Bluegrass

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What a perfect end to a great day! On the way home fom the free bluegrass concert this evening, we flushed out a covey of baby quail. They were so cute. There were at least 30, Nick said more like 50. They could fly, but were still just miniture versions of the adults.

We were already pleased to have at least two coveys of about 15 adult birds on the property this spring. A covey over 10 is considered a viable one.

We don't mow our property in the fall. Everyone else does. We won't so it's left for winter cover and food for the wildlife. That's the main reason why we have so much wildlife here. We also never mow more than half the 100 acre pasture in any one year.

Since the main focus of the property is as a refuge for wildlife,native plants, and heirloom plants, I feel like we are really doing well when we see that many baby quail. WOWEEEEEEEE!

Now, I don't even want to mention rabbits (grumble, grumble).Anyone want to come rabbit hunting this fall??? Please.

And the bluegrass concert was just wonderful.Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys were the headliner. They sang My Wildwood Flower(different from Wildwood Flower). I hadn't heard it before. It brought a tear to my eye. Local talent rounded out the day.Pretty good,too.

The best show, tho, is on the dance floor. People dance all day long and dancing to bluegrass music takes some stamina, it's active. Some of these guys are in their 70's and 80's, too. Puts you young bucks to shame, I tell you.

Everyone from 3 to 83 is there dancing. Not a beer can in sight. These concerts are real multigenerational events. That's hard to find anymore.

I had a ball. Put this under why I live in Kentucky. The weather was beautiful, not humid. We found a shady spot and Nick read while I listened to my music.

Great day.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

Answers

Blanca, the hound disquised as a German Shepherd, would LOVE to come and help you with the rabbits. When can you come and pick her up?

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

I have those wonderful quail all over my property. Aren't they a wonder!!! I love those little head boblers.....Kirk

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001

Sounds like a ball! Those old folks can out-dance Steve and I too! They keep going and going. Most of the barn dances we go to are older folks, no beer, just coffee and pop. And it's so much fun! Anyone can get up and play or sing a song if they want, you know, really just country folk getting together. That's where I met Steve, at a barn dance. My friends didn't show up that night, and I sat down next to Steve, and that was that!

Love the birdies. I have some little quail, they run on the gravel road going down the hill. We're getting more and more wild turkeys comming out in the back pasture. I took a pic of about 8 or so a few weeks ago. They are big! We even had one hen come up and hassle the roosters. She must be sittin on a nest down by the old barn but we don't know where. 3/4's of our property is bordered with thick woods, so we just sit and watch the critters come out in the evening.

Are any pheasants native to Kentucky? Do you know in Sheperdsville, at the flea market, you can get just about any kind of pheasant. Boy are they beautiful. There's allot of pheasant breeders around here. Have you considered letting some peacocks loose and just letting them live there? They roost way up in the trees at night. We got 5 Royal Palm turkey babies a couple weeks ago, and are going to just let them roam around when they get bigger. A friend of ours has a solid white peacock, he is beautiful! Every time I go over he spreads that whole thing out and shows off.

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001


Pheasants have been "part of the landscape" for so long, most people don't realize that they are an imported, not native, species. They've adapted darn well, and amazingly, is one of the VERY FEW imported species that isn't deterimental. They're really Chinese ring-neck pheasants, found in the wild throughout Asia however. There are other kinds of pheasants in Asia that can be found in this country -- zoos, breeders, that kind of thing -- such as the Lady Amherst pheasant. Only the ring-neck has made it into the wild and become part of the natural world. Probably because so many were released for sport of hunters.

One time I was out on a piece of land that I owned, semi rural, and I heard a LOUD noise, like some one trying to work free a large rusty metallic something or other. It went on and on, finally I headed in that direction because I had to see what was going on. I really thought this was something of human mechanical origin. When I got near the oak where it seemed like the sound was originating, I flushed a large cock pheasant. I had no idea that they made such a weird, harsh noise. We had a crippled cock pheasant that lived with our ducks when I was a kid, but he never made any noise. Probably some kind of mating call.

They're VERY tasty too!

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001


The Bobwhite quail around here have a penchant for waiting till the horse I happen to be on is just about overtop of where THEY are in the edge of the woods, and then they take off in a flurry of explosive noise and movement, scaring the bejabbers out of my Arab and subsequently dumping me unceremoniously on the ground. No matter how many times this happens, the result is ALWAYS the same!!! Boy, the ground seems to be getting alot harder these days, maybe I'm just hitting faster?

Sure do love seeing the little fellows though, despite the results they cause!

Weather here has been lovely lately, low humidity (under 40%), cool at night ( in the 50's), and only 70ish during the day, can't believe it's July! Don't have to run that awful energy wasting AC.

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001



Sharon,

That sounds like a full rich day to me! Here in Kansas they have an annual event called brass on the bluegrass, which is followed by live bluegrass. I enjoy the music greatly. I studied vocal music in college. I just wish there was a little bit more going on around here.

Maybe I should move to Kentucky!!

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001


Well,Joy I'm sure we can still fit one more dog on the bedroom floor. Barely.

Joy is correct that pheasants are not native.We do not have them here.Not sure why,but they only stock a few on a wildlife mgmt area over in western Ky (I think) for put and take shooting.I hate that. What a waste of taxpayers money.

We have grouse and quail and lots of turkey.Abt 80 birds when they flocked up last fall.

Cindy,does the auction ever get wild muscovy ducks? That's what I'm looking for. Had them before.They are hearty guys. Good flyers too. Tasty. My friend who raised them as setters for his woodducks no longer does. Boohoo.

Marty,you are welcome to move here.There is in fact a nice farm up for sale.But,come armed.This ain't Kansas,Toto. You want to live in the hills, you must be a tough cookie,be able to stand up for yourself. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. We all pack. Different culture.You get use to it. Some don't and they leave. Fine either way.People here are use to living in hard times. Sometimes that comes across as maybe hard nosed or unfriendly. But if you take the time to really get to know people,w/o too much foolish trust getting in the way,(or you'll get hornswaggled by the less scrupulous element) then things usually work out.Just takes time. People are in too much of a hurry anyway.Hurry up and be my friend.Just doesn't work that way.

Woops,don't mean to make it sound too horrible or anything .It's just different.I'm sure other parts of the country are like this too.I just haven't lived in them. Still learning the culture myself and I've lived in EKY 10 years.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001


Yeah Sharon, they have those ducks. Those are the best kind of ducks I think. They come in all different colors. They fly really well, and set on eggs better than any I have ever seen. I had some for years, but gave them away a couple years ago. The males have really ugly faces, don't they, with all the red googly crinkly stuff, but they are not mean or anything. I could find you some pretty easy, or my friend could hatch out some too if I can get some eggs. Litchfield flea market always has lots of duck eggs for sale and ducks too. That's on Wednesdays.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

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