The Sad, Sad, Mommy Quail

So, this darling little quail's nest was discovered yesterday in our yard by Jack.  Surprisingly, it was just two feet from my new garden patch in the midst of some rocks...the tractor had just barely missed it when tilling up our dirt Monday night.  Upon discovering this nest, the kids were very excited and wanted to touch the eggs.  I warned them not too, and that the Mommy quail would not know her babies if they handled the eggs.  I might as well have been speaking German to my curious kiddos.  Not more than a few minutes after my warnings, both kids were happily carrying an egg in each hand to relocate the little nest when Halle tripped and fell and started SCREAMING, "She SCARED me!  She SCARED me!"

Well I would've been scared too. When I made it over to her all I noticed was the yellow yoke string hanging from her hair, splattered in her face, and the poor, crushed, baby quails and eggs on the ground next to her.  Bleck!  This was quite the traumatic experience for both Halle and the baby birds (obviously).  It was SOOOOO sad.  And to make things even sadder, Jack accidentally dropped one too, and "lost" the other one.  I felt so bad for the poor mommy quail.  She screached around for HOURS (most of the day) looking for her babies and could not seem to figure out where they had gone.  She kept going back to the spot of her nest and just screaching out in distress. 

This was TRULY a traumatic experience for all of us.  I'm still sad about it, and feel so bad for the Mommy quail.  :(  Halle walked around all evening sadly saying, "The baby birds are gone...because I killed them."  NOT something you want to hear your two year old say.  Perhaps I shouldn't have taught her that word.  :(  Well, here's to hoping the quails don't make any more nests in our yard.