Bobwhite Quail Close to Extinction in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
NBCPhiladelphia.com (October 12) - The number of wild bobwhite quail has fallen off so precipitously that—except for small pockets—they're close to extinction in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and barely holding on in Delaware, wildlife ecologists say.
Choked forests, paved roads, housing developments, herbicides, and pesticides have destroyed food sources and nesting grounds, and as their habitat has disappeared, so have the birds.
To change that, Bill Haines and certified forester Bob Williams have created a haven for the birds using prescribed burns and tree thinning to produce the quail's optimum surroundings on about 1,500 acres adjacent to Haines' Pine Island Cranberry Company operations in Burlington County, New Jersey.
The E-forester
Texas and the south have lost a lot of populations to fire ants.
Perhaps anecdotal, but when the coyotes moved in, the quail left; haven't heard one in at least 20-25 years. Used to be, we could hear 2 different coveys from the shop......raised in the same location each year. There were another 12-15 coveys that we hunted each year. Wonder what happened to the bullfrogs; don't think the coyotes got them?? I've assumed it was the increased use of farm chemicals.
Quote from: thurlow on October 17, 2014, 02:28:36 PM
Wonder what happened to the bullfrogs; don't think the coyotes got them?? I've assumed it was the increased use of farm chemicals.
I can vouch for the Bullfrogs... my Grandboy is catching them all. ;D ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/29968/2014060495003255.jpg)
I burn and thin and have some quail. Hearing them warms my heart.
It really takes food and habitat for these birds! varmit control is also critical. food and habitat.
Wm,
I see some fried frog legs in your future.
Wild turkeys are another predator for Quail. If they find a nest they will immediately clean it out, whether eggs or hatch-lings.
I'm working on making my field a little more appealing to quail. I dont have much land, but I do have one covey of 8-10 birds that hangs around. There are quite a few grown up fields within a mile or so of my house, and can see quail crossing the roads pretty regularly.
I'm going to spray my fescue this fall and then burn the field early spring, and folow up with a round of plateau in the spring to get the rest of the pockets of fescue gone. I got some Indian grass I'm going to plant and a few shortleaf pine to scatter around. One day I may shoot a few for supper, but mainly I like seeing and hearing them around.
If there's a quail around here, he's a very lonesome little critter. I've been over about 1,000 acres most all soybean ground and not one bird did I see! One woodcock, a possible black rail sighting of which I'm excited about. Usually see a pair of barred owls but none so far.
No doubt, farm chemicals have a detrimental affect on all wildlife. Couple that with increased species of quail predators..like the red-tailed hawk, and many other hawks [too numerous to mention]; I don't think what residual quail are left from the winter can carry on successfully . Numbers just not there.
One of the last good quail habitat creations that I had heard of was a forest clear-cut of oak-pine several hundred acres in rugged terrain, most all grew back to blackberry vines, wild legumes, natural grasses before succession had it's way with regrowth of a new mixed hardwood forest. Folks that hunted the area spoke of large coveys and actually boasting of full bag limits!
A big problem is those fields where used to be a lot of fallow ground where they bread and raised young are now mowed for hay or as part of a ever increasing neighborhood. Then we have the wold cat problem toss in Coyotes coming back 3 fold over their traditional levels pre-man intervention. The bobwhites are not the only ones all quail and pheasants are pretty much getting reduced to breeding stock for game hunters. The turkey nest and roost in different areas and guard their young differently than the smaller game birds. I mother Turkey is rather tenacious protecting her young, never seen that from Pheasants or Bobwhites.
mark
This area used to have large populations of both quail and pheasant .It was speculated that the use of prilled fertilzer caused the pheasant hens to lay eggs with no shells because of confusing the fertilizer pellets with small stones .Nothing to make an egg shell .Weather that's true or not really can't say .
In addition to that the fence rows of days gone by are all but gone .The area went from livestock to grain farming .Loss of habitate .