Wild Kingdom

My desert yard is teeming with wildlife: quails, jack rabbits, insects by the dozens, lots of birds I don't know the names of, and my favorite of all, roadrunners. I have two roadrunners. They live in the yucca bush next to my driveway. Roadrunners are usually solitary, but occasionally live in pairs and are known to mate for life. In fact, I swear the two in my yard were courting last month.  I see one, or both of them, every single day. And every single time I see them is a treat. They're wily little things -- which is funny if you think about it. They're quite shy. Quite skittish. And they don't stand still for more than a couple of seconds at a time. And when they move, they move pretty darn quickly. Which is also funny because they do indeed, run. I'm told it's great luck to have them around your house because they eat tarantulas, and scorpions, and rattlesnakes, as if just being completely adorable wasn't reason enough to love them.

Today though, I had a couple of quails put on a show for me. I was sitting at my desk which faces a large picture window that looks out at my side yard. The view is breathtaking and it's usually where I catch the glimpses of my roadrunners, and today, two quails came by for a late afternoon sand bath. I honestly thought the larger of the two was nesting. She (assuming it was a girl) went to town digging a hole in the sand beneath a small tree that's right outside my window and then proceeded to fling the sand and dust up and over herself in what can only be described as a little quail frenzy. Then she got up and moved to a new spot (same routine) and left the first hole to her smaller quail companion so he could have his way with the soft, cool spot she'd created. I'm guessing, just for him. They hung around for awhile, lounging in their holes, flinging sand, cooing, prancing around the tree. When the large one fluttered up to the top of a fence post I knew, that she knew, I was watching them. She was showing off. And she sat there for several minutes, posing, while I took her photo.

If only I could get my roadrunners to cooperate like this!