Matt Lucia (Mark Kastler joined us on one of those special days) and I spent three glorious final days on the prairies in pursuit of birds. Havilah Babcock’s

prose of not wanting to travel to the Dark Continent to kill elephants has rang true to me this season…Colorado has a good population of my favorite game birds…scaled quail. I have spent oodles and oodles of time researching Colorado’s scalies on the internet. This research has led me and the birddogs into some of the most attractive scaled quail coverts I’ve ever seen…within the shadows of the Spanish Peaks and the Sangre de Cristos. Matt and I found a few really nice coveys to embarrass us and give the dogs a workout. I plan to spend a few more February days on the prairies with a camera before the caddis start to emerge…and the ponderosa forests start to echo with the love-sick yodels of Merriam’s turkeys. Below are some photos from my last few days with scaled quail…see ya on the prairies!