We are back in Rockport after a whirlwind trip to Fort Davis looking for a clown. "Harlequin means a buffoon dressed in party-colored clothes who plays tricks, often without speaking." Today the quail we traveled so far to see is called Montezuma. When I first started having hopes of one-day seeing it the name was also Harlequin. He is still that to me.
I read of regular sightings at Fort Davis. I mentioned to Ann I wanted to go. She asked, "when?", and I said "now". In less than four hours we were on the road for this six-hundred mile hunt. We checked out the place where it was being seen....no bird at first. I finally got a sighting, though not a real good one. The next morning I took Ann. We parked near the watering hole, but not as close as I wanted because Ann began to say in a voice that meant business, "Stop! Don't move the car!" Believe me, I didn't! "What is it?", I meekly asked. "THE QUAIL ARE RIGHT HERE BY THE CAR! RIGHT HERE!!" They were. Had we opened the door they might have hopped in. It was a pair. The male is the gaudy one. They were pecking away in the grass, paying no attention to us. It was very exciting. These are wild and endangered migrants from Mexico. Not many of them are at Fort Davis State Park. They are BEAUTIFUL birds. Everything now is an anti-climax, but not by much. We saw many other terrific birds and enjoyed an early morning in the sixties!! We were at 5,000 elevation! The nearby mountains are spectacular. Now we began hoping for a cougar sighting. They had been seen there. I wouldn't have wanted it to hop in the car. Saw a tarantula as big as my hand. He had found some delicious kill so was not in a playful mood.
Can't tell everything now. That's the Harlequin story!
