Of birds and books
Noah came running to tell me of some unusual birds he saw in our back yard this evening. When I went to look, I saw about 8 or so quail, scratching about in the dirt. I'd seen one earlier last week on the roof of the garage and had looked for a picture online. I'll share here:
These birds look just how I'd always pictured a quail would look. I'm not sure where I got that impression from, but I'm pretty sure my first introduction to the quail was when I was around 7 or so and started reading Trixie Belden books. Trixie was part of a club called the Bob-Whites. I suppose she and her posse were the 50's version of Scooby and the gang, without all the veiled drug references.
Anyhow, I'd don't think I ever bothered to try to find out just what a bobwhite quail looked like until now:
I don't think I'd ever mistake a bobwhite quail for a California quail. I'm still trying to figure out why the image of a California quail was the one I had in my head, since I'd never set foot in the western US until last year. My best guess is that I must have seen one in an old Disney nature flick as a child.
So now I'm thinking about those old Trixie Belden books. I never could get Emily to read one. Maybe Halle will want to read them soon. If not, I'll just have to re-read them myself.
4 comments:
I tried to get Natalie to read some of my old Trixie Beldens - I absolutely devoured them at her age - but no luck. She resists reading anything I suggest, for some reason.
I LOVED Trixie Belden! I think I heard they're re-publishing them, I hope they don't modernize them they way the did Nancy Drew.
I loved Trixie too. I just picked up a whole bunch of them at a secondhand book store for 50 cents apiece (hardback!).
When I was a kid, I was in my elementary school's choir. We were called: the Bob-Whites. At the time, I didn't know of the bird; I just thought we were named after some guy named Bob White. Which never did make sense to me.
I don't know the Trixie Belden books, but I may just look them up now.
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