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Instead of thick forests, northern bobwhite quail prefer tall grass prairies, open pine savannahs and brushy rangelands where they eat seeds, small fruits, insects and green plants. Quail can’t survive in monoculture croplands, but thrive at the brushy edges of fields where they can find plenty of weeds, grass clumps, briers or woody thickets.
During the past 40 years, the wild quail population in the southeastern United States fell about four percent per year. This amounted to about a 70-percent drop in population since the mid-1960s. In many places, hunters can no longer find wild quail so they release pen-raised birds to supplement their hunting. However, pen-raised birds typically don’t survive long enough to reproduce.
“Quail populations have been declining in much of North American since the early 1900s due to a variety of reasons,” said Wes Burger, a quail expert and professor of wildlife ecology in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at Mississippi State University. “From the mid-1900s through today, agricultural lands that once supported quail no longer do because of the intensification of agricultural practices.”
During the 20th century, agricultural practices changed throughout the nation. Small family farms separated by hedgerows or other transitional areas disappeared as giant agricultural corporations bought up small plots and joined them together. To maximize profits, they plowed and planted every inch of available ground, leaving little cover for quail.
Florida quail suffered through the same agricultural transition, but in the Sunshine State, more wild property turns into shopping malls, condos and housing developments each year to accommodate the booming human population. Sportsmen without their own property struggle to find a good place to let the dogs out. Still, about 48,000 bird hunters bag about 200,000 birds each year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“Florida has traditionally been a good state for quail hunting, but the population has been declining slightly,” said Charles L. McKelvy, the Florida small game program coordinator. “It’s still a good state to hunt quail in — relative to other southern states. However, finding properties with moderate quail densities that are open to the public is becoming increasingly difficult. The population continues to decline because of habitat loss due to development, lack of or infrequent use of prescribed fire, conversion of native range to improved pasture and increasing intensity of management on many agricultural, grazing, sod farming or forestry properties.”
The ongoing drought might actually help quail Florida populations. Drought makes ground more open and seeds easier to find. Dry conditions also lead to forest fires. Fire and the regeneration of plants create excellent habitat. Quail thrive in areas periodically ravaged and renewed by forest fires.
“In the southeastern coastal plain, quail numbers are significantly lower than they were historically because we’ve largely eliminated fire from the landscape,” Berger said. “Bobwhite numbers are inextricably tied to early sucessional plants, those plant communities that occur due to some type of disturbance. The irony is that quail are dependent upon bare earth right at ground level. Grasses that form dense cover on the ground are bad for quail. Native grasses that are scattered and clumpy create some cover, but they are relatively open at ground level to allow the birds to run around. That’s ideal cover.”
With few people trapping furbearers, increasing numbers of predators also bite into quail populations. Top quail predators include foxes, bobcats and raptors. Fire ants also take a toll across the South. Skunks and raccoons destroy nests and eat eggs. Predators and other factors destroy between 55 to 70 percent of all bobwhite nests. In about 25 percent of those cases, the adult bird also dies. Only about 50 percent of the chicks survive their first three weeks. Sometimes a female must lay three egg clutches just to ensure that some survive.
Ironically, one much maligned predator truly helps quail populations. Coyotes actually eat few quail. They do eat many feral cats, one of the most vicious predators of small birds. Coyotes also chase foxes away from quail habitat.
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