Soft whispering of quail a sign property has come a long way A male quail being a lookout. (ERNIE COWAN) ERNIE COWAN Outdoors I could hear the whispers and it sounded juicy. If only I understood quail. It was an intimate moment with nature like I had never experienced before. Sitting motionless at the edge of the flowerbed I was listening in to the whispered conversations of feeding quail just a few feet away. The murmurings were hushed, almost inaudible. I’ve written before about the “muttering army” of quail that pass my bedroom window at dawn as they emerge from native cover and march to a nearby seed feeder. Their not-so-subtle cooing then is an almost daily alarm clock. This was the same sound, but I could almost not hear it. Had there been a wind or other noise the sounds would have vanished. The feeding quail were obviously close to each other with no need to be speaking loudly. This became an impromptu sit-and-see moment. I was out enjoying the morning sun and had pulled u...