Having read Jeff Gibson's posting about the towhee it reminded me of some NCI I did with the mountain quail one day a couple years ago. I decided to watch what I call the 'peck to peak' ratio while feeding either singly or with another quail nearby, 'peaking' being looking up a moment to check for predators. A lone quail 'peaked' once every three pecks while feeding whereas when more than one quail was present the ratio was 6-8 times before pecking. The multi-quail peckers (no relations to some of the woodpeckers out there) alternated their 'peaking' so on average a quail in a group 'peaked' once every 2-3 pecks. Just something to do on a lazy day.

Mary Hrudkaj
Belfair/Tahuya