I love hunting for northern bobwhite, but often I am frustrated by the lack of good quail numbers from year to year.  I am sure that you have experienced this same thing.  Most people who manage habitat and bobwhites, recognize the large population swings, or boom and bust cycles as part of the natural system.  Still, I want to see many more coveys flush and take flight…even if they make me jump when I am not expecting them to be around.

Good habitat management is a must for this bird, as it is with any species.  Yet, it is easy to drive the roads of our state and see pastures that have been pushed too far and the diversity of plants and their structure show signs of compromise.  Often, we notice this most during times of drought, which seems to be most of the time in our state.  Yet, as wildlife managers, we had better plan strategies that leave rangelands in good condition, even during these stress periods.

In high rainfall years, quail managers look like heroes and the success of habitat management practices are aided by the high reproductive effort of quail, whom often double and sometimes triple nest in a single season.  However, in dry times, ranch managers are often pressured to produce quail one way or another.  Generally, it is at these times that one might consider releasing bobwhites raised in captivity called pen-reared quail for the purpose of bolstering wild populations. 

This is not a new technique and since the 1930s, thousands of turkeys, partridges, and quail have been released across the state and few survived very long.  Poor body condition, slow flight speed, naivety to predators and food sources have all been studied and suggested as causes to poor survival in the wild.  Little information existed regarding roost site selection by wild quail much less those raised in captivity and we wanted to know if poor choice of roosts could be a limiting factor pen-reared quail.

You will find the results of pilot study in a new Texas Cooperative Extension publication (L-5477) called, “Roost Site Selection and Survival of Pen-Reared Northern Bobwhite”.  If you would like to have a magazine-style copy, it can be purchased ($2.50) from the Texas Cooperative Bookstore (http://tcebookstore.org ) or an electronic file can be downloaded at no cost at this same site.

This publication is 6 pages long, containing 6 major sections, 9 photos, and 1 table.  Section 1, the Introduction, provides background information on past efforts to release pen-reared bobwhites and the ranch manger’s dilemma to produce quail even when the habitat is compromised.  Section 2, the Study Area, gives the general location of the investigation and common plants found in the area.  In Section 3, the Methods, we describe how quail were housed and measured before release.  Later we describe the use of radiotelemetry to track the birds over time.  Additionally, this section describes how we found roosting locations and the habitat characters we measured at each.  Section 4, the Results, provides information on the survival of pen-reared quail in this study and provides insight on the area used by pen-reared quail over the study period.  We discuss our results and make comparisons to other studies in the fifth section, called Findings.  Finally in the sixth section, Recommendations, we make suggestions for land managers to consider before releasing pen-reared northern bobwhite.

I hope you find this publication useful in your own efforts to enhance habitat for northern bobwhite and the associated plants and animals that will benefit from your land stewardship.

Jim Cathey Ph.D., Certified Wildlife Biologist, Extension Wildlife Specialist, Texas Cooperative Extension – Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX USA