The Texas Quail Index (TQI) is a series of hands on
demonstrations organized by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. It is
designed to educate land managers, hunters, and others about population
dynamics, habitat requirements, and other factors affecting bobwhite and scaled
quail in Texas. At the county level, TQI
fosters landowner and community involvement and provides tools for interested
stakeholders to assess the “quail-equation” in their community. Statewide, the
TQI provides an important opportunity to use citizen-science to help monitor
the abundance of quail and bring attention to their importance, plight, and
needs.
That may sound abstract, but the
process is actually very concrete. It starts by recruiting the Texas A&M
AgriLife County Extension Agent (CEA) for a particular county to participate in
the TQI. They in turn find a ranch or
other suitable property willing to serve as the demonstration site. The CEA is
also responsible for recruiting other members of the team from their community.
This team could be: the hunters who have a lease on the property, a former QuailMaster in the area, a former Bobwhite Brigader, a Master Naturalist, agency personnel (NRCS or TPWD), and, ideally, a member of the local
media.
These teams are responsible for
collecting data on quail abundance, predator abundance, and habitat quality on
the participating site. They do this by using a variety of techniques
throughout the year. To start off the
breeding season, teams use spring call counts to assess breeding potential of the quail population. During nesting season (April-October), teams
will use dummy nests to estimate the impact of predators
on nesting quail in the area and assess the availability of quality nesting
locations (i.e. what is the density of bunch grasses and/or suitable prickly
pear). Next, teams will use game cameras
to create an index of predator abundance on the property. This information can
be used in conjunction with the results from the dummy nests to determine
whether nest depredation may be a limiting factor on that property. During the summer, teams will assess the
habitat quality on the property using a guide that takes into account all
aspects of habitat that are important to quails: food availability, woody
cover, nesting cover, and water availability.
In September, teams will use roadside counts to compare how their quail
populations measure up to the Texas Parks and Wildlife average for their
ecoregion. Fall covey call counts
conducted in October are the last measure of the population going into hunting
season and can be helpful in planning how much hunting pressure the population
can safely handle. Finally, harvest data
are used as another index of abundance and a measure of production for that
year by comparing the adult:juvenile ratio and coveys flushed per hour of hunting
effort.
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| TQI Mile Marker sign |
All these data collected at the county
level are then submitted to a central database managed by Texas A&M
AgriLife Extension Service to be analyzed on a statewide level. By combining all the observations, we can
identify patterns in quail abundance across the state or answer other questions
such as the relationship between different aspects of habitat quality (e.g.,
nest site availability) and quail abundance. Maybe most importantly though, the
TQI will get people from across the state involved and thinking about what can
be done to help in their area.
As the old adage goes “The best
fertilizer is the footprint of the farmer.”