I was out working in my perennial garden which runs along our front walk to our front door. I was cleaning and trimming dead leaves and old flower stalks off a clump of Red-hot Pokers and noticed some fine grass tucked between the clump and the foundation of the house. Upon closer inspection, expecting to find perhaps an old cottontail rabbit nest, I found a California Quail nest with three eggs! I was totally shocked and hope I didn't disturb the clump of vegetation too much. I did flush a pair of quail from that garden earlier today, but assumed they were just foraging in my recently spread compost or dusting in some dry dirt. Never expected to find a nest! Apparently she is still laying and hopefully will be successful hatching the eggs.

Jeff Kozma

Yakima

jcr underscore 5105 at charter dot net