The First Annual Button Quail Symposium On June 6, 1998, Lauren Casey, Dave Foster and I arrived at Garrie Landry's Acadiana Aviaries for what we affectionately (and optimistically) call "The First Annual Button Quail Symposium". Although Our gathering probably doesn't qualify as an official "symposium", it was a long awaited and thoroughly planned trip to a genuine "button quail mecca". Lauren from California, and Dave and I from Ohio, flew down to Louisiana where we were welcomed by Garrie and his hundreds of birds; various doves, finches, and especially button quails! Garrie has hundreds of buttons, and is responsible for developing nearly all of the various mutations that are available today, and is always working towards more new and beautiful buttons for us to enjoy. There were far too many different types for me to photograph and reproduce here, but Lauren has undertaken this very project, having purchased at least two of each mutation on this trip. If you would like to see them all, check out Lauren's site, Buttonquail.com. If she hasn't already, she will soon have photographs posted of each of these beautiful birds. Garrie has buttons at all stages of development, fronm the tiniest chicks to full-grown breeding pairs. You can imagine how difficult is was not to go home with an entire cage full of these little sweeties! Garrie's Aviaries are expansive, being housed in a large, long building with countless flights off to each side of the main hallway. Each flight houses various combinations of quail, doves and finches. Below is a shot of the main hall (with us in it), and one of Garrie showing us one of his many little treasures. Acadiana Aviaries Looking at Buttons Aside from the adorable buttons, it wouldn't be fair to ignore Garries other beautiful birds. Below are just a few that I photographed while there... Golden Heart Dove Victoria Crowned Pigeon Luzon Bleeding Heart Dove After a busy afternoon of ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the birds, we all went out for dinner at Landry's Seafood Restaurant (nope, Garrie doesn't own it, but I did ask!). We all stuffed ourselves with the local flavor, spicy cajun food! The tiny crawfish were something I'd never experienced, but I knew I had to try them before I left Louisiana. I must've eaten fifty of them! What a Feast! Me, Garrie, and Lauren Thanks for stopping by to share our trip to The "First Annual Button Quail Symposium". We hope to have more such gatherings in the future, at different locations around the country. (Poor Garrie! I wouldn't want him to think that we plan to descend upon him like this every year!) I promise that future trips will be planned and publicized well in advance... Maybe you'll be able to be there too! Happy Quails! Endless gratitude to Dave for accompanying us to Louisiana, taking photographs, and generally being a real trooper! Back to the Button Quail Index!