Perilous Life in the Sonoran Desert

Was it a tarantula? A toad? Something small and dark had just burst out from the dry brush along the side of the road. In the dusk light, the young girl strained her eyes to see it.

A baby Gambel's quail. The featherless bird, now motionless in the middle of the street, was not much bigger than an olive. The girl reached over and scooped it into her hands, then looked for signs of a nest, signs of a family. Nothing. The night before a coyote had been seen intently walking down this very street. Could the baby quail be a sole survivor? She would never know.

The following morning, the girl and her mother pulled into the parking lot of Liberty Wildlife. The facility sits on six acres of riparian habitat a mile south of downtown Phoenix. At the intake window, Operations Director, Terry Stevens, promptly dropped the quail chick into a cage made from two pint-size berry baskets. He called this time of year "quail season" and said this little one would be joining 50 other babies in Orphan Care.

Gambel’s Quail Chick in Berry Basket

Image Credit: Liberty Wildlife

More than 150 different species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians are cared for at Liberty Wildlife each year. Orphaned birds tend to arrive in a predictable order by species from April through September.

Early in the season, the seed and grain eaters are the first orphans to arrive. During the spring, native trees such as the mesquite, palo verde, and ironwood are covered in seed pods, saguaro and prickly pear cacti display their red fruit, and shrubs drop wolfberries and jojoba seeds. With food abundant, seed and grain-eating birds such as finches, quails, and sparrows start their families.

As summer gets into full swing, the next group of orphans to arrive are the insect eaters: Say's phoebes, verdins, Abert's towhees, mockingbirds, Gila woodpeckers, curve-billed thrashers, nighthawks, and grackles. Baby hummingbirds also make their appearance. Gardeners can easily miss the tiny hummingbird nests and accidentally cut them down while pruning branches. 

Hummingbirds

Nighthawks

Mockingbird

Image Credits: Liberty Wildlife

Finally, as the monsoons arrive in late summer, the doves—mourning doves, Inca doves, and white-winged doves—who have been trickling in all season, begin to show up in large numbers. Doves have the reputation to build flimsy nests and, according to Stevens, some of the more violent storm activity "causes havoc with birds whose nests often don't comply with local building codes."

Medical Exam of an Inca Dove

Image Credit: Liberty Wildlife

Animals coming in through the intake window are first seen in triage by a medical service team volunteer, many of whom are veterinarians. Babies are assessed for injuries, illness, and dehydration. Broken wings and legs are set and wrapped, wounds cleaned, and medicine and fluids administered.

Once the babies are stabilized, they move into Orphan Care. Orphan Care consists of two large rooms: one for baby doves and pigeons that require tube feedings and one for all the birds who will be hand-fed, lovingly referred to as "gapers." 

“Gapers”

Image Credit: Liberty Wildlife

Gambel's quail can find their own food as soon as they hatch and do not require hand-feeding. The chicks will peck at the crumble, an oatmeal-like chicken feed, and mealworms scattered on the bottom of their berry baskets.

The quail still require plenty of care. As explained by Orphan Care coordinator, Kathleen Scott, "Until they develop feathers, they can't regulate their body temperatures." It may take four to five days for their feathers to develop. Until then, they are kept in berry baskets in a brooder at a toasty temperature of 99 degrees Fahrenheit.

Papa Quail with the Gambel’s Quail Chicks

Image Credit: Liberty Wildlife

Once the feathers come in, the babies move into the Quail Box, where they meet their foster mother: a feather duster. Until a few years ago, the babies were greeted by a bobwhite quail named Papa Quail. Papa Quail had generously raised hundreds of Gambel's quails during his time at Liberty Wildlife. Since his death, the staff has struggled to find a new foster parent.

Scott explained some of the trouble. First, as wild animals, they cannot simply choose to keep one of the orphans and raise it to be a foster parent without federal approval. Second, Gambel's quails can be bullies. In the wild, if an orphaned quail stumbles into the wrong family, it will be killed. Even in the Quail Box, mature quails will begin to peck at the younger ones. When that occurs, Scott knows it's time for those adults to be released into the wild.

Fortunately, the quail chicks appear to do just fine with the feather duster and one another. But that wouldn't be the case with the birds of prey, or raptors, at Liberty Wildlife. 

Raptors, like owls, hawks, and eagles, are at risk of imprinting on humans. Imprinting is a form of learning in which an animal identifies with its species. Imprinting allows the chicks to follow the appropriate adult and learn the behaviors and vocalizations of their species. If a young raptor imprints on humans, it will have difficulty communicating with its own species and is unlikely to be accepted. Unfortunately, birds that imprint on humans cannot be safely released back into the wild. 

Foster parents play an important role in preventing inappropriate imprinting in raptors. Current foster parents on-site include great horned and burrowing owls, Harris and red-tailed hawks, kestrels, California condors, falcons, and bald eagles. If a foster parent is not available, staff members must disguise themselves with camouflage hoods and body coverings and use species-appropriate puppets during hand-feedings.

Baby Great Horned Owl Meets Foster Mom

Image Credit: Liberty Wildlife

Orphan Care doesn't only care for chicks. They also receive eggs. Quail hens lay their eggs in ground nests over several days. When the first chicks hatch, the mother may permanently leave the nest and begin foraging for food with them. The abandoned eggs, only a day or two from hatching, are sometimes found and brought into Liberty Wildlife.

In the heat of the desert, abandoned eggs will continue to incubate. A chick may hatch and find itself alone. If it's lucky, it may run into the street, into the hands of a young girl, and be given a chance at life.

Gambel’s Quail Eggs

Image Credit: Wikipedia (Alstrupjohn / CC BY-SA)