Uncle Charlie, Aunt Eleanor and the Quail

Hello Everyone.  Thanks for stopping by.  Today we had a wonderful visit with some friends of ours.  Uncle Charlie, as he is affectionately known, is 97 years old.  His wife, Aunt Eleanor, is 95.  We had the good fortune to live next door to them for four years when my oldest child was 2-6 and my second child was a baby.  It was like having grandparents next door and I really miss living next to them.

Anyhoo, Uncle Charlie has a new hobby.  I say new, but it is actually 2 years old or so.  I think it's great that a 95-yr-old is starting new hobbies!
So Charlie and Eleanor have always loved birds.  Two years ago Charlie had a quail coup built and has been keeping and releasing quail in his back yard.
Today the quail guy came with 20 baby quail for Uncle Charlie.  The plan was to put 5 in the quail coup for a few days and to let the others go in the yard.  The hope is that they will decide to stay.

Charlie, Eleanor, their caregiver, and my son watching quail release.

Quail guy getting the quail out of the carrier.

My middle child holding a baby quail!

Showing Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Charlie the quail up close.

Some of the released quail.  They were happy to hang around and check things out.

After the 15 were released, we sat quietly and watched as they checked out their new surroundings.  They headed for the landscaping up by the house and the bushes in the back yard.  But soon we heard them calling to each other and they started to gain confidence and gather up.  The ones in the coup will be fed for a few days then released with the others.  These birds have lived their whole brief lives as a group, and the quail guy said they don't let other birds join their covey.  By keeping a few in the coup, the hope is that the whole group will stay (they don't want to leave those 5) and set up house-keeping in the area.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Have a great weekend.