One Exception, a Female

The unexpected brought some joy.

In the backyard, my daughter's family have a few quail. There are about three females and one mail. The covey produces two eggs per day, approximately. One of my granddaughters checks daily and brings the tiny eggs inside for us to eat.

This breed of domestic quail is known to not care for their eggs or try to get them to hatch. They just drop an egg and move on.

But over the last few days my granddaughter noticed that one female has moved under a culvert and would't come out. Friday morning when they inspected more closely, they discovered that the quail had made a nest and was sitting on four eggs.

None of us being quail experts, we're not sure what to make of this development. But it would seem that this one female strongly wants her eggs to hatch.

Perhaps the breeding in this case did not succeed in eliminating her motherly instinct? That would be surprising and potentially the beginning of a new population of chicks.

For now, the mom's on the nest and the eggs are too. 

To be continued...

***

On to our nightly news summary:

* CANADA'S LAST FULLY INTACT ARCTIC ICE SHELF COLLAPSES

The last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic has collapsed, losing more than 40% of its area in just two days at the end of July. The Milne Ice Shelf is at the fringe of Ellesmere Island, in the sparsely populated northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. “Above normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for ice shelf break up,” the Canadian Ice Service said. “Entire cities are that size. These are big pieces of ice,“ said Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa. [Reuters]

* TRUMP SAYS HE 'ORDERED' NO DRILLING OFF FLORIDA. THERE'S NO EVIDENCE HE DID. Florida’s coastal waters are safe from any future offshore oil and gas development, Trump boasted in an interview with Spectrum News. “We’re not gonna be drilling, and I’ve already put out that order ― actually quite a while ago,” he said. Aside from the hypocrisy of proposing to open nearly all U.S. waters to fossil fuel development while declaring “not in my backyard” for Florida, the “order” Trump claims to have put out appears to be a figment of his imagination. It’s not the first time he’s touted a seemingly nonexistent decree. [HuffPost]

* UNHINGED TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN OPPOSES GOD Trump billed his trip to Ohio Thursday as a chance to promote economic recovery, but he quickly pivoted to a deeply personal attack on Joe Biden, questioning the Democrat's faith in God. Even for a president known for scathing vitriol, Trump’s remarks stood out, showing how low he is prepared to take his reelection campaign. “He’s against God. He’s against guns. He’s against energy, our kind of energy. I don’t think he’s going to do too well in Ohio,” Trump said. [AP]

* 40 million Americans are at risk of eviction without a stimulus bill. A report by the Aspen Institute warns that the United States may be facing the most severe housing crisis in history if conditions do not change, with up to an astonishing 43 percent of renter households facing eviction this year.(CNN) 

* Rising alarm as virus spreads deeper into country -- The situation in Mississippi, which is experiencing the country’s highest rate of positive tests, is unfolding in other largely rural areas of the country as well. People who are infected often don’t know it, leading to “inherent community spread.” (CNN)

* 'It's just madness': bikers throng South Dakota town despite Covid threat -- At least 100,000 expected for Sturgis rally in state’s Black Hills (The Guardian)

* China wants Trump defeated and Russia is denigrating Biden, top intelligence official says --

“China has been expanding its influence efforts” and pressuring political figures it sees as opposed to its interest, said William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Russia, which interfered in 2016 election in an attempt to help Donald Trump, according to U.S. intelligence officials, now wants to diminish Joe Biden, Evanina said. (Washington Post)

*Coronavirus has already dealt a blow to Social Security's finances. Trump's payroll tax holiday could make it worse. (CNN)

***

I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead;
I just need some place where I can lay my head.
"Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, and "No!", was all he said.

Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free;
Take a load off Fanny, And (and) (and) you can put the load right on me.

I picked up my bag, I went lookin' for a place to hide;
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walkin' side by side.
I said, "Hey, Carmen, come on, let's go downtown."
She said, "I gotta go, but m'friend can stick around."

       -- J.R. Robertson (The Band)

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