[Birdtalk] Further Adventures of the Sleeping Quail

[M. H. Wallace]

Fellow Birders of One Feather or Another:

I posted "Sleeping Quail" on 8/13/2006 5:51 PM.  I sent this post to a 
relative living in Colorado who is well connected with various 
naturalists and others working in the natural world.  She has since sent 
a reply back to me with insight from John Wiessinger, Naturalist with 
the Roger Tory Peterson Institute. 

The word I've received is that "/he /(John Wiessinger) /has witnessed 
this with Bobwhites.  Here's the deal.  The birds were sunning 
themselves.  They were most likely oriented to the sun, there feathers 
fluffed-up and their wings drooped.  This allows the sun to reach down 
into the feathers and even to the skin.  It helps control pests and is a 
similar behavior to "anting" and "dusting."  Other birds do this too, 
but it's especially done by quail.  When the birds are sunning they are 
in a "dazed" state or in a separate stage of consciousness.  /
/
Unornithologically speaking, Sounds to me this is like the Tibetan 
Buddhist monks describing the 7 realms of consciousness.  This would be 
the 3rd level, or the Astral realm!/

Indeed, the sun was shining that day.  Astral Realm certainly describes 
their state of consciousness, better than catatonic or stupor.  They 
were not limp, and were more meditative than mind-body disconnected.  
The "unornithological" comment was inserted by another fellow at the RTP 
Institute, who passed this information on to my relative.

Thank you to the various folks who have participated in this exploration 
of bird behavior.  It has been interesting to hear various theories.  
(I've provided the other theories submitted over the past month, and 
these are below my original post below.

Links of interest:
Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History - http://www.rtpi.org/
Roger Tory Peterson Institute Electronic Naturalist - 
http://www.enaturalist.org/

Matthew Wallace
Salt Lake City

**********  Original Post ************
Below, I have copied my original post so you can easily find it:

"Sleeping Quail"
Originally Posted on birdtalk at utahbirds.org: 8/13/2006 5:51 PM

Today in our backyard in the East Millcreek area of Salt Lake County, at 
about 5:00 p.m., we witnessed a most unusual behavior from the 
California Quail in our yard.  There were 3 males and 1 female 
apparently sleeping in broad day-light.  They did not react when we went 
outside, when normally they would have been quite nervous, and either 
scurried or flown away.  We quietly approached up to about 20 feet away 
from them.  Their eyes appeared to be open, but, again, they did not 
re-act to our presence as they normally would.  They appeared to be in a 
stupor, or catatonic state, or otherwise sleeping.  I have lived around 
Quail my whole life and never witnessed this before.

Does anyone have any insight into this behavior?  Have you ever seen 
Quail sleep in broad day-light?

I have posted three photos of the three males.  
(http://www.xmission.com/~pooder/birds/quail_stupor.html)  Notice how #1 
has his rump up in the air.  As I took these photos, and approached a 
bit closer #2 eventually did awake and stand-up, but did not immediately 
move away.

By 5:45 p.m. they have all moved away, so they are all alive and now 
awake.  Interesting...

Matthew Wallace.


**********  Reply  Posts ************

(These are the responses I received in response to my initial post on 
Utah BirdTalk)

1) /Saw your post on the quail; we observed the same type of behavior on 
our trip to the Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson last week.  The mom 
and dad and one sibling (Gamble's) Quail were foraging nearby, while the 
other sibling lay on its side, with feet extended, and head turned at an 
odd angle.  It wasn't dead, as it moved its head a couple of times.  Our 
tour guide suggested it might be "anting", i.e. lying there letting ants 
eat the mites and other parasites which might be up in its feathers./

2)  /I had a similar experience with quail last February. It was about 5 
p.m. when I noticed a flock of quail under my bird feeder. Suddenly they 
were spooked and flew away. Then I noticed a single quail near a flower 
pot on the patio. It was frozen in a strange position and I realized 
that it was trying to hide in plain sight. A few seconds later, it 
backed up to the flower pot with its head down, rear end up and tail 
turned sideways. It stayed frozen in the same position for more than 40 
minutes. Finally, several quail flew from somewhere near our house to 
the trees in the back corner of the yard. Right away, the single quail 
on the patio flew to the same tree to join his flock. I was glad that my 
camera was available and that I was able to take some pictures of this 
strange quail behavior. The photos are a little blurry but the quail was 
in the same position as the one in your photos. I wondered if there was 
a predator -- maybe a hawk -- in the area and that is why the quail were 
acting that way. A lot of things go on in our backyards that we don't see./

3)  /The birds have been eating poultry mash
that someone put out for them.
It rained yesterday in Salt Lake. The
mash got wet and fermented.
The fermentation created alcohol and
the alcohol made the birds drunk.

It sure is a joy to see Robins or
Cedar waxwings that get drunk during
the winter when they are feeding on
fermented fruit./

4)  /Another scenario would be that the birds
got poisoned because the rain washed
the pesticides and herbicides that people
put on their lawns into their favorite
drinking spot.
/
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