The Quail Whisperer

One of my neighbors is big strapping fellow, a retired police chief and a big exerciser. On his return from a recent run he was stretching against the street sign post and noticed a mama quail and her chicks running under a bush near him. The papa quail was up on a higher tree sounding the call. The mama quail uncharacteristically came back out and started squawking at my neighbor. She darted in and out of the bush each time coming closer and closer. It was almost as if she were talking to him. After a few minutes of this behavior the mama quail managed to convince him to walk over to a nearby drain. My neighbor obliged and looked in the drain and there he saw 4 of what must be the mama quail's babies! He struggled mightily to lift off the grate covering the drain. He managed to lift it up and scooped up the babies. Three of them rushed off to join mama right away but the fourth one was a little wobbly but in time rejoined the family. Neighbor dutifully replaced the grate. The next day he went back to inspect the drain and wouldn't you know this time there were 5 babies in the drain! This time he and his wife formed the baby quail rescue squad. No easy task as these babies were trying to hide by running inside the drain pipe. I guess they hadn't gotten the message that the "quail whisperer" was there to save them.