By: Morgan Osborn, Texas A&M WFSC '16
Everybody has a
quail recipe whether they sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss them on the
grill or wrap them in bacon and slather them in barbeque sauce; some recipes
are a little more conservative with no spice, leaving the bird completely raw. The
short lived bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) have an entire
flock of predators. Striped skunks (Mephitis
mephitis), raccoons (Procyon lotor),
opossums (Didelphis virginianus),
accipiters (Accipiter spp.), feral hogs (Sus scrofa), coyotes (Canis latrans) and northern harriers (Circus cyaneus) are just a few predators
that prey on quail in some way (Rollins and Carroll, 2001). Due to high
mortality rates from factors including predation, bobwhites have an average
lifespan of only six months (Hernández and Peterson, 2007).
Typically
bobwhites are part of a covey allowing the birds to watch out for each other,
but during nesting season, quail break away from covey activity to breed
allowing predators more opportunities to catch a meal through direct predation
on unaware adults and nesting hens. From the months of June-August, occasionally
earlier or later depending on weather and geographic location, bobwhite quail
begin nesting. Studies suggest that depredation can account for 55% to 84% of
unsuccessful nests (Hernández and Peterson,
2007). Unsuspecting bobwhite parents can be easily plucked from their nests and
made into a snack by predators including coyotes and raptors. Studies using dummy nests with chicken
eggs determined that raccoons depredate nests leaving egg fragments from biting
into one end of the egg after the eggs have been carried a few meters away from
the nest, and skunks leave fragments very near the nest (Hernandez, Rollins,
and Cantu, 1997). Snakes, including rattlesnakes (Crotalus spp.) and rat snakes (Elaphus
spp.), have been documented eating both eggs and adult quail whole with no
evidence left behind except radio collars left in scat (Rollins and Carroll,
2001). To evaluate the abundance of different predator species in a certain
location, scent stations and dummy nests can be constructed which can be great experiments for
kids
and adults alike!
While
these predators can also gobble up chicks, concerns involving red imported fire
ants on the health of chicks are increasing. Studies have shown that red
imported fire ants pose several health threats to chicks. According to
Hernández and Peterson (2007), nonlethal stings impact chick survival by occupying
the chicks’ time reacting to the insects’ activities, which takes time from
important life functions like feeding, thermoregulation, and avoiding predators.
Don’t
get ruffled by depredation and high mortality rates of bobwhites. Double
brooding and re-nesting by bobwhites leads to a high number of offspring (if
the conditions are right) which counteracts the high mortality rate during the
nesting and brood-reading stages of life (Hernández and Peterson, 2007). Predator control may be impractical on a
large scale for many landowners due to expense and lack of results, so be sure
to have a good plan of attack and evaluate your results from dummy nests and
camera trapping data (prodcedures found in Texas Quail Index Handbook).
As
a landmanager, the greatest benefit you can make for quail is to have good
habitat that provides food and cover; a variety of management practices can be
implemented to benefit quail and associated species such as the Texas horned
lizard
(Phrynosoma
cornutum). An abundance of bunchgrasses, forbs or shrubs for nesting
cover and plenty of insects and seeds are beneficial to help improve bobwhite
survival (Hernández and Peterson, 2007). Management can differ from habitat and
ecoregion; in order to best mange the land in your area, you can contact your local county Extension agent for more
information. Publications on how to further get involved and make a difference
including Habitat
Monitoring for Quail on Texas Rangelands can be found on the AgriLife Bookstore with
supplementing videos on the WFSC Agrilife YouTube page’s quail playlist.
This article was developed through the Reversing the Quail Decline Initiative funded by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department through Upland Game Bird Stamp funds.
Hernández,
F., M. J. Peterson. 2007. Northern Bobwhite Ecology and Life History. Pages 41-
64. Brennan, L. A., editor. 2007. Texas Quails
Ecology and Management. Texas AandM University Press, College Station, USA.
Rollins,
D., and J. P. Carroll. 2001. Impacts of Predation on Northern Bobwhite and
Scaled
Quail.
Wildlife Society Bulletin 29: 39-51.
Hernández,
F., D. Rollins and R. Cantu. 1997. Evaluating Evidence to Identify Ground-Nest
Predators in West Texas. Wildlife
Society Bulletin 25: 826-861.