Coincidence or covid? Lockdown frenzy or simply life as usual? Two examples recently of wild birds being used for domestic purposes here in Willamette Valley.
This week a friend sent me this picture from her home in McMinnville:
She wanted help with ID and had been in one of my birding classes. The picture was suggestive but far from conclusive due to distance, vagueness, etc. But she attached a sound file–the call was the familiar “bob-white” I heard so often growing up in the rural Ozarks.
The species is suffering severe population decline in its native range.
Then today OBOL was treated to this circulated image from a home in South Salem:
Chukar, imported for hunting and killing here in Oregon and other states. One OBOLer commented that they are often bought to use to train dogs for hunting,. As for the quail, Paul Sullivan noted they can be bought online and shipped to a home anywhere in the U.S. for food, fun or whatever. This species is native to Middle East and South Asia. It thrives in upland, arid habitat of the American West.
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