62 Nebraskaland • July 2021
THE LAST STOP
ERIC FOWLER, NEBRASKALAND
By Eric Fowler
A BEAUTIFUL MODEL
Quail are difficult birds to photograph. Their size
and habitat help insure that.
There is but a short window in the spring where
this diminutive game bird is taller than the prairie
grasses in which it calls home. The rest of the year,
the first hint of their presence typically comes when
they flush from your feet and fly away at Mach speed.
Last summer, however, I found one female quail
who apparently aspired to be a supermodel. Driving
a two-track service road through Rock Glen WMA
near Fairbury one evening after checking a camera
trap, I spotted a female ahead in the road. I drove to
within camera range, made a hard right turn, killed
the engine, rested the camera on the window and
captured a few images before she scurried into the
native tallgrass prairie.
I had seen quail in this exact spot on a previous
trip, so on a hunch, I drove ahead, made a U-turn and
waited a bit before heading back down the same path.
Sure enough, in the same spot in the road, I spotted
a pair.
They let me drive close enough for a photo three
times before the male disappeared. But the female
wouldn't leave the road. So I decided to try something
different and went off road to try and pass her on the
right. She didn't seem to mind, walking slowly and
pausing in gaps in the grass, seemingly curious as
to what this big, brown, purring chunk of metal was
doing in her neighborhood.
"Yea, work it baby, work it," I whispered each time
she paused.
As luck would have it, my new path was lower,
putting my window nearly at her level.
We played leapfrog a few more times before she
finally left the road, 20 minutes and 200 yards after
the "chase" had begun. Together, the pair provided me
with 37 usable images.
Thank you, Mrs. Bob. You were a beautiful model.
