I made a new friend today while doing the horse chores. When I went to check the level of water in the stock tank, I found this little gal sitting on the ground next to it.

Fearing that the little gal was ill since it didn't take flight when it first saw me, I quickly found Pudgy and put him back in the house so that he wouldn't have a tasty morsel for dinner. It might sound as if I was being paranoid, but the last time I tried to help a bird, Pudgy came out of nowhere and grabbed it out of my hands. So, history has proven the precaution was warranted.

With Pudgy in the house, I returned to the little quail and found it hiding behind the stock tank. As near as I can figure, the little gal was flushed out of her home by our neighbors. When I had arrived home, the neighbors were out with their fielding dogs practicing flushing out game. So, I think they had flushed the poor little thing out of it's home and it was cowering in my horse yard not sure of where to go and it decided I was less threatening than a dog.

To help make the little girl feel more at ease, I grabbed a few handfuls of corn and placed them next to her on the ground behind the stock tank. When I first started throwing the corn at her, the poor little thing didn't know what to do. Then, it suddenly realized it was corn and I had just become it's newest, bestest friend. By the time I grabbed the camera to take it's photo, it was cooing at me. I'm hoping that she returns tomorrow and I can add a new job to my evening chores.