The settlements closer to the mountains do not experience the burning temperatures of the coastal plain, but with their more luxuriant vegetation and lack of maritime breezes, their higher humidity makes them nearly as uncomfortable—
It is raining today, and cooler. Thursday was a Seattle sort of warm—21 degrees Celsius. I told myself in my head that it was cold.
During the summer months (late April through mid-October) the heat ranges from hot to oppressive to debilitating.
This is my way of tricking myself.
A gamble always to remove your/ clothes
It is going to be hot as hell down there.
or go anywhere at all
The breeding season should be starting. There is a chance that, in their timing of breeding, Elegant quail are more responsive to environmental conditions than other Callipepla. In particular, they may time their breeding in response to the onset of the Pacific storms that drench the region and result in the greening of the rainforest.
Though the other three species are sensitive to rainfall, breeding time is fairly fixed depending upon latitude and distance to the coast. For California quail in San Diego, for example, it’s the end of February, at the very earliest, through the beginning of September.
Mayos in the region are unanimous in their assertion that las aguas used to be more reliable
Of course, I know that, even as I type this, all may be changing. Though Elegant quail have, perhaps, a more compelling and obvious environmental force driving a possible flexible response to breeding time, the other species are responsive to aspects of rainfall, changes in vegetation, daylight and temperature. Climate change and desertification will certainly affect their breeding response.
There is nowhere to get away from it,/no ledge to climb up to
It may be we are trying to see a pattern that no longer exists—that is changing so fast we’ll never catch it. We cannot step away long enough to perceive it.
During the rainy season, the vegetation explodes into an almost impenetrable low jungle, the trees high enough to limit visibility to a few meters
The weather forecast states temperatures consistently above 32 degrees C and rainfall over the next several days.
It will be raining when we arrive.
It was clouds we thought we held between us.
I have heard that the Elegant quail have started pairing off. There is something that seems very fixed about California and Gambel’s quail pair bonds—I’m curious to see whether that sort of solidity between social interactions is the same in Elegant quail.
Of course, the irony is that our perception of the security of the pair bonds (the classic paired male and female California quail—an icon of monogamy) these bonds change throughout the breeding season. And there is no guarantee that the male observed with a female early on, or even when the clutch has hatched, will be the father of most, or even any, of the young.
We’ve, of course, imposed upon all other species our own ideas of relationships and only now are we realizing that we need to unmake our assumptions and rebuild our understanding.
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
The first things we’ll look when we are down there at are social proximity and affiliation, aggression and daily time budget. Where are they, what plants are they in or near. Who are they with, how close? How do they respond to the environment around them? If they are just pairing, perhaps even just starting to lay, the earliest the chicks will hatch is in 20+ days. So the likelihood is what we’ll get is the transition between covey and full breeding behavior.
I see that I’m running a fever
By the way, I’m still struggling with my pre-trip fear. Though it had abated some, it’s back. This is the honest truth—I do not want to leave my kids (or pets) for the next 3+ weeks. It frightens me and makes me sad. It frustrates me to admit this to recognize the impact of attachment—the reality of giving hostages to fortune.
I see that I’m afraid
I fear the heat as well. And to some extent, I fear the birds, because I do not really know what I will find when I get down there. This is a strange fear, I know, more a fear of failure but with wings and feathers.
The most likely explanation is that the/trouble lies within you
I really cannot see the other side. I know that in the airport I will be in that other side. But right now it is hard for me to understand why I am doing this—battering at a thick locked door when I could just as easily sit tight.
I/entered ‘bird’
For some time the only thing I could
Recognize was my own hunger
the fool steps out of his image
lights a candle in bright sunlight
***
quotes by Paige Ackerson-Kieley, Yahman and Van Devender, Admiral Richard Byrd, Anne Carson, Inger Christensen, John Keats
