By: Morgan Osborn, TAMU WFSC '16
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| Interspersion of forbs, bunchgrasses and trees |
When managing and monitoring for northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus), conducting habitat
surveys allows the land manager to better manage a given area. The following
suggestions are adaptions from Habitat
Monitoring for Quail on Texas Rangelands’ section “Conducting Cover
Surveys” which discusses cover surveys conducted to determine the amount of
bare ground, woody
cover and grass cover in an area; this publication offers many other survey
instructions and examples in addition to this one.
Quail require a mosaic of cover
types and bare ground, and a cover survey is used to better understand the
foliage type and abundance in an area. Although a cover survey requires a
moderate time and energy commitment, this survey will help identify if cover is
either a limiting
factor or overabundant on a site. Prior to conducting the survey, a
permanent transect, similar to a nest
clump survey transect, should be established; nest-clump transects can be
used for both surveys to save time, money and energy.
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| Silverleaf croton, a common forb (above), and a panic grass (below) |
Start by
walking the transect with large steps, and each time your right foot lands,
mark what is underneath your foot: forbs, grass, bare ground, or brush (stepping
beneath canopy cover counts as brush cover). Record all data in a table like the “Cover
Survey Data Sheet” below.
Add up the totals for each column, and find grand totals for forbs, grass, bare ground and brush by adding up the respective columns. After 100 steps, the number of Xs in the grand totals will give you a rough estimate of cover percentages. Ideal brush cover and bare ground percentages are 5 to 30 and 25 to 75, respectively, with an abundance of forbs during summer and early fall. If grass cover is greater than 50 percent, a prescribed burn may be necessary to increase bare ground.
Funding support provided by the Reversing the Quail Decline Initiative and the Upland Game Bird Stamp Fund, based on a collaborative effort by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
Works Cited
Wright, B. D., J. C. Cathey, and R. K. Lyons. 2005. Habitat
Monitoring for quail on Texas Rangelands. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
B-6172, College Station, TX, USA.