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    The Covey Headquarters Newsletter
    Habitat is the Key for Bobwhites' Tremendous Reproductive Potential

    by Tom Dailey, MDC Quail Research Biologist, Columbia, MO

    In Missouri the clear resonant bob white call is a harbinger of spring. In April and May, birds pair off, and by late May broods are showing up. Although habitat has been greatly diminished, the species drive to produce an abundance of chicks continues. Missouri's state-wide effort to halt the decline of quail is dependent on the bird's drive to reproduce.

    Here are highlights of the quail's drive to reproduce. One review of 84 quail studies found that spring-to-fall quail abundance increased on average 160 percent, and more than 300 percent in some cases. Quail achieve this high productivity in a variety of ways:

  • Hens lay clutches of 10 to 20 eggs, and will quickly start a second or third nest if initial nests are destroyed.
  • A single nesting cycle requires about 45 days, beginning with nest-site selection and nest construction.
  • Quail nest from April through September, and sometimes later.
  • On average, nest hatching peaks in June and then again to a lesser extent in July or August.
  • Hens are quite promiscuous and not strictly monogamous as once thought, sometimes laying a clutch of eggs and then moving on to find another mate while the first mate incubates the initial nest. Males incubate about 25 percent of the nests, according to research in Missouri and other states. Other times a hen will hatch the clutch and then abandon the brood after a few weeks and start another nest.
  • About 50 percent of incubated nests hatch chicks. Causes of nest loss include downpours of rain and hail, drought, heat, mowing, and predation. Research indicates that the majority of nest losses are from apparent predation. Biologists end up classifying some deaths as predation even though other causes (malnutrition, weather, accidents, etc.), were the actual cause of death - signs of predation are all that remain. In many cases the incubating adult also is killed. For a look at streaming video of nest predation, go to the Tall Timbers website (http://www.talltimbers.org/research/gamebirdnpreds.html). Predators filmed in the act of pilfering quail eggs include a snake, armadillo, squirrel, opossum, raccoon, bobcat, coyote, owl and deer.
  • Although predation losses are high, the removal of predators is not a simple matter because many of the quail's enemies eat other quail predators. Research in the 1990s in Missouri and other states identified snakes as a major consumer of quail eggs. Even rodents, particularly cotton rats, take a toll on quail nests. Fortunately for quail and their enthusiasts, predators such as hawks, owls, coyotes and bobcats help keep these egg eaters in check. The image of a round-bellied fox, coyote or hawk belching quail feathers is a handy scapegoat, but it's inaccurate. In fact, the red-tailed hawk, which is often blamed for quail problems because it is so conspicuous, probably does far more good than bad for quail. First, red-tailed hawks prey heavily on snakes, the destroyer of many quail nests. Second, these hawks displace Cooper's hawks, a species supremely adapted to preying on quail. Similarly, coyotes take relatively few quail, but they displace the more serious nest predator, the fox. Both coyotes and bobcats prey on other quail nest predators, are believed to provide a net benefit to quail.
    • Based on these facts of quail life, habitat can be managed to increase quail production as follows:
  • Aim to provide a mixture of grasses, legumes, forbs and small woody plants such as briars, vines, shrubs and saplings.
  • The best grasses include little bluestem, timothy, orchard grass and other native warm-season grasses.
  • Regardless of the kinds of grass, your management goal should be to maintain a mix of legumes, forbs and grass, and about 25% of the ground should be bare. This requires periodic disking, grazing or prescribed burning.
  • Reduce predation through habitat management. The best approach for in-field management is fire because it reduces abundance of snakes and rodents, and indirectly the predators that prey on them as well as quail (e.g., hawk, fox, owl).
  • Another way to reduce predation is by providing blocks of cover rather than narrow strips. Choose 60-120 foot-wide crop field buffers, rather than the minimum 30-foot buffer (e.g., CP33). The goal is to avoid narrow strips of cover because they are more easily searched by predators.
  • Because of the quails' persistence in attempting to nest, the long nesting season deserves special attention. If you want to maximize the species potential to produce a good crop of birds, suitable nesting cover must be available from April through September. The greatest chance for nest success lies in the availability of season-long cover for second or third nesting efforts.
  • A key to this long nesting season is to ensure during the previous summer/fall/winter that adequate cover height remains. The availability of at least 12 inches of moderately-thick cover in April can increase the success of the critical early nesting attempts.

    Finally, patience is needed. A year of bad weather can result in poor production. Quail can respond quickly, however, if conditions are right - in Missouri's Western Prairie Zoogeographic Region, the quail index increased by 360 percent over the two-year period following the winter crash of 1983-84. It's up to us to provide the habitat, and Mother Nature can do the rest.

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    The Covey Headquarters Newsletter
    3915 Oakland Ave
    St Joseph, Missouri
    Volume 4 - Issue 2 - Summer 2005
    The Covey Headquarters Newsletter is a joint effort of the Missouri Department of Conservation, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of Missouri Extension and Quail Unlimited.
     
    Articles
    Plants You Should Know: Native Perennial Food
    Build it and they will come
    EQIP proves to be positive for quail numbers
    Habitat is the Key for Bobwhites
    Brood Habitat - An Overlooked Habitat Component?
    Covey Management Calendar
    A New Quail Habitat Model
    Habitat Improvement


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