If you’ve spent any time around Live Oak Education, you’ve likely heard the unmistakable chorus of our campus calls. A frog’s croak sending the Tadpole class scampering toward their teacher, an owl’s hoot bringing Form 1 instantly to attention and running towards their teacher, and the call of a coyote prompting Form 2 to dash off to meet their teacher. Each signal is woven into the playful rhythms and daily adventures. If you see the entire crowd, the convey, of Live Oak come running to a single location then you would have heard the quail call first. The quail call is Live Oak’s original call. Our first year we used the quail call exclusively. It is the animal we have chosen to represent us.
Why We Love the Quail
I don’t think anyone could not love the fancy fixture atop the quail’s head! The head plume is an intricate design of six feathers in a cluster tightly woven together. This plume or “top knot” can actually change based on the quail’s mood! In the quail’s relaxed state it may be pointing backwards. This kind of reminds me of the informal backwards baseball cap look. It’s a vibe.
If it’s standing straight up, the quail is on high alert, excited, or agitated. What a personality!
An attribute that we can all relate to at Live Oak is the quail’s communal tendencies. If you are lucky enough to see one quail, you may be just as likely to see 5 of them together and possibly up to 50!! These groups are called coveys. These coveys will travel quickly, up to 12 mph, walking across the ground. They are even communal about laying their eggs! A single nest may have 20-28 eggs because multiple females will lay in the same nest.
Once these eggs hatch, the sweet tiny quails have all their feathers and open eyes, already looking around. They may even start feeding themselves within the first few hours of hatching! You might think this independence would lead nature to leave the birds on their own. Not so! True to their communal nature, the mothers are very caring and the community works to protect the most vulnerable with at least one quail standing guard.
They have amazing instincts that will keep them out of danger which is why we rarely have seen them at ONeill Regional park though we know they are there. What you will see and hear around Live Oak are children running around and playing until it’s time to gather together and a teacher will call, “Chi-ca-go, chi-ca-go,” the sound of the quail. At this time the quail (the convey of Live Oak students) will come running and likely sit under our beloved oak tree for morning meeting together.
For all of these reasons and more, we love the quail. We love the quail so much that we have put it on a hat! You can help support Live Oak Education by purchasing one of these hats through the link below.
All quail photos have been taken from pixabay.com, a free photo website.
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