Tweeters,
Has anyone in Tweeterdom had the following observation concerning California Quail? Or any ideas about whether this is a relatively common occurrence?

About 10 years ago, we had a male California Quail raise two chicks from very tiny size to adult birds. Since then, on most years we've had at least one family group that's had just a lone male as the single parent.

This year, one "family" of 8 young has been shepherded by a single male (the female quail disappeared about 2 weeks ago), and one group of 8-10 young has two male quails as "parents." We may have another group with both parents, but I need to confirm that.

My thought is that the female quails might be more susceptible to predators because of breeding stress. However...?

Any ideas about this parenting aspect for California Quail or quails in general?

Thanks, and may all your birds be identified,

Denis
avnacrs4birds at outlook.com

Avian Acres 🦉
Roy, WA
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