It's been two years of consecutive below average precipitation in California: it shows. When I began shooting these birds on my property, there would be coveys of them in excess of sixty birds; every summer there would several groups of young numbering in the scores. That has all changed. This passed April, I have seen the fewest recorded quail since 2000. I might see, on any given day, perhaps twelve to fifteen birds. The final verdict for this rain season has been established as another below average: and whats more, the snow-pack on the Sierra Nevada range (where most of the potible water for consumption comes from) is one third below normal, and melting far faster than it should...draw your own conlusions. I give you this in what might be the last of my resident population.
