Hey Nancy!

 NB> California and to a lesser extent about the ones in Oregon...

Right.  They are also importing firefighters from New Zealand and Austrailia. 
Now that it is winter there I suppose they can spare them.

 NB> Maybe they moved farther away from the human activity...?

Errrr ... where would that be?  I believe it only gets more active as you move
away from this neck of the woods in any direction landwise.  Maybe they learned
 to swim and chose to move to one of the nearby islands.  Either that or
hitched a ride on a boat.  Although they can fly they aren't very good at it
and the nearest island is a tad beyond their reach as far as my understanding
of quails is concerned.  Anyhow, as of this writing, still no sign of them.

Life is good,
Maurice

... Cybertoasts of note:
    2019-01-01 is  144 days from now and falls on a Tuesday.
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 * Origin: Little Mikey's Brain - Ladysmith BC, Canada (1:153/7001)