Here, in Paradise, we like more than anything else (beyond the peace and quiet),the various wildlife that abound. I feed the birds year round, and songbirds enjoy our rich food source. Especially in the cold, bleak days of our long winter, we make sure there's lots of grains and seeds for our feathered friends, such as these winter friends, the California Quail. We sometimes have as many as fifty or so,at a time, feeding here under this planting of birch trees. The Quail seem to love the seeds from these trees as well as the cracked corn that we scatter around. These little guys look like an old Laural and Hardy routine, as they wobble and strut around in the snow - and always a source of hilarity for us is the way they carry on as a bunch of old ladies, gossiping across the garden fence.
We are in awe at how well they can camouflage themselves in the birch trees, as they roost right above the reach of the "Big Yeller Bird Dog" Belle.
These are our "Winter Friends"...ones we look forward to entertaining/and being entertained BY, each year.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....the wind still blows and the creek runs downhill.
Miss Vic
