Jose and The Baby Bobwhites

On a hot autumn day a young boy named Jose was helping his father plow. Suddenly the mule jumped sideways and Jose heard the flutter of wings. He knew the mule was startled by something. “Whoa” he called out. When Jose stopped he could see that his donkey had stepped into a Bob White nest (or Quail)* The Momma Bird had been stepped on and was dead. The eggs in the nest however were all OK. There were 15 wee little eggs.

(*We call them Bob Whites: night birds whose call sounds like “Bob White.”) Jose picked up the nest with the tiny eggs and took them to his mother. “I feel I am to blame that the Mama bird is dead. Do you think the little eggs will hatch out?” Jose wanted to know. She shook her head, “No, not without their Mama.” Jose seemed so sad that his mother gave him a suggestion. “Our little gray hen is trying to “set”. Maybe you could put the eggs under her. Maybe, just maybe she might hatch the little birds for you”.

Jose ran quickly to the little gray hen’s nest and very carefully slipped the eggs under her while they were still warm. The tiny eggs looked even smaller in the hen’s nest. But, would the hen allow them to stay there?

The little gray hen looked them over, then turned them over with her beak. Now satisfied, she sat down and began clucking just as happily as if she had laid them herself. Three weeks later the little birds chipped holes in their shells with their sharp little beaks and came out!

Jose watched the little gray hen as she looked at her strange chirping “children” that gathered around her. She tried to talk to them by clucking to the chicks but they didn’t speak her language. Jose tried to help her by bringing bugs and worms to her every day. The Bob Whites grew fast and were soon running about in the chicken yard. They lost their down and grew feathers!

Jose stayed close to watch the mother hen take her babies for a walk. She scratched in the dirt, then clucked to them as if she was trying to teach them what to do. But they never could understand or figure out what she was saying. In fact, they would sometimes run the other way when she clucked.

One day when Jose brought feed to them, his dog came bounding up behind him! Mother hen spread out her wings, ready to fight him! But the young birds did not wait. With a whirr of wings, they were gone to the highest tree! No one has to teach a baby Bob White to fly!

The Bob Whites grew fast and became wilder.At first they spent a lot of time in the woods but always came home at night. Later, they stayed most of the time in the woods, coming home occasionally for chicken feed. Jose always recognized “his” grown up Bob Whites.

One day Jose saw some hunters near his house so he put a big sign on a tree that said, “DO NOT HUNT”, but that did not stop them. Jose heard the report of a gun in the woods. BANG! Then he heard the whirr of wings fly past him into the chicken yard. He gave a cry of Joy. The Bob Whites had flown back to the security of the hen house. Jose’s’ little birds knew they would be safe at home!

I enjoyed this story because I am always astounded by the marvel of God’s beautiful world and all the creatures that He has made. Soon the Snow Birds will be flying to Texas from Canada just ahead of the cold weather. How do the wild geese know when it is time to fly south? And how do they know the way to Texas? The heavenly Father has put wisdom in them that we can’t understand. Butterflies come to Texas every October. Hummingbirds know instinctively when to go south for winter. There is no end to the mysteries of God’s amazing world and His fascinating creatures! I say thank You, LORD, for the beautiful world in which we live. Amen.