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Leaping Foxes

10,000 Birds

We call it a “mouse gradation year” I was not able to find a catchy English term for “gradation year” – it’s what happens when a certain species showing population cycles reaches a peak year. No “gophers” etc. You’re not a vole or a gerbil. Gotta be mouse gradation.

Fox 164
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California Quail, The California State Bird: Now Forming Coveys

10,000 Birds

All New World Quail are highly gregarious, typically found in coveys or flocks except during breeding season. These could be the beginning of the formation of coveys, post breeding season flocks that form when the chicks become independent at about three months old. The birds scatter, sometimes in different directions.