Wildlife Count

Midway through my route today, I spotted something, or more specifically some things, on the road. I immediately slowed down because, as I moved closer, it obviously was a covey of quail.

I am excited as around this part of Kansas, we don’t see as many quail as in years past. Also, it was a particularly hard winter, with several severe ice storms. It is a good sign the birds are out on the road, perhaps enjoying bits of salt.

The quail prompted me to remember my early days as a carrier when we conducted wildlife counts twice a year. Management brought each carrier a list of animals with columns for each day of the week. The list included rabbits, squirrel, quail, and pheasant. Deer might have also been on the list. Let's see, were box turtles on the list? I don’t think so, I added them at the bottom just so I had more things to count.

The rural carrier wildlife count was an important measurement for the Kansas Wildlife and Parks (probably then Kansas Fish and Game). I wonder why we are no longer asked to do this task.

Probably someone thought it is not part of our job description or could be a safety hazard. It is too bad because I was conscientious and considered it a fun assignment.