Living life on the edge

Now I know I have posted about quail previously, but seeing a small goup this morning as we drove down Cawongla Road through Rock Valley has spurred me on again. There's something very cute about seeing a family (I know I'm being anthroporphic here - I'm sure that there isn't really something analagous to our notion of 'the family' in quail-cosciousness) of quail minding their own business, as they go about doing quaily things, as you hurtle past them in your vehicle. How perilous their lives must be. Not only do they have to contend with the vehicles but also the impulse of so many to 'tidy up' the roadside verges which then totally removes their habitat. I haven't seen 'our' quail since one of the neigbouring landholders set fire to his paddock a month or so ago. Sharing these mini-ecosystems are buff-banded rails which are somewhat less cautious than the quail and we often see them head, neck and beak at full stretch as they race across from one side of the road to another, their little wings beating as fast as possible but never giving them much uplift. Given the lack of dead quail and rails, however, on the road, it seems that both birds manage to hang on without being walloped by cars or utes.