Red Onions and Quail Egg

'Red Onions and Quail Egg' . 9" x 14" . oil on wood panel
© 2016 kay eneim
available

The Gambel's Quail are busy these days, trying to find a good nesting place to lay their eggs. I found this little egg a few years ago in the gutter at the side of the street... it's a beautiful little egg.

Crab Apple, Quail Egg, and Roses

'Crab Apple, Quail Egg, and Roses . 14" x 18" . oil on linen
© 2014 kay eneim
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… and those stemmed flowers on the lower left are from the 'gopher plants' that grow around here. Their blossoms are wonderful… along with the velvety purple sage blossoms this year!

Quail Egg, Roses, and Delphinium

'Quail Egg, Roses, and Delphinium' . 11" x 14" . oil on linen panel  framed
© 2014 kay eneim
available

I found a little quail egg… it was just sitting out on the open ground.

Quail usually make a bed in a well-protected, hidden area of moist dirt. They lay one egg each day until there are no more. (Yet they all hatch within about 10 minutes of each other!)

I'm guessing something scared the wits out of the mother hen before she could make it to her nesting bed.
That exposed little egg was bound for the dinner table of a hawk, rat, or snake.

I was happy to find it first.

Delphinium Blue

'Delphinium Blue' . 14" x 18" . oil on linen panel
© 2013 kay eneim
available

Dried Delphinium, Hops tree blossoms, and a wee little quail egg...

Gambel's Quail

copyright © kay eneim 2009

I love nests...and painting them. We live out in the desert and every spring we have a lot of nests, from all varieties, showing up around the house. (We get plenty of bobcats, javelina, and coyotes, too!)

This was a nest of Gambel's Quail that we accidentally discovered last spring. 

A 'Mama' quail burrowed a nest in the humid soil. (The nests are built in the soil for the humidity. If the eggs dry out they won't hatch.)

She layed an egg or two a day, stockpiling them in her nest.

When all was said and done, she had a total of eleven eggs. (They often lay as many as twenty eggs, each about an inch long.)

The Mama would leave for the whole day, feeding alongside the 'Papa', and return to her nest at night while the 'Papa' stayed nearby to guard their nest.

This nest was particularly remarkable for us. We happened to be at a nearby window when it was time for the eggs to hatch. It was incredible. Within ten minutes, every egg hatched and the little chicks dropped down to the ground, scaling down a dangling plant, and gathered around their Mama. One little chick after another popped out of the plants and toppled down. It didn't seem to matter that the eggs were layed in the nest on different days, they all were ready to be hatched at the same time.

In no more than ten minutes, literally, the little babes were with their parents, striding off into the desert...the brutal desert with bobcats, coyotes, and snakes. Incredible.

Our visiting family from out of town were there that morning to catch the whole thing on camera. It all happened so fast. My brother-in-law didn't have the lens he wanted for some sharp photos...I'm grateful he had the camera handy. We couldn't believe what we had witnessed!