State of the Species: Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus)
Written by: Wanda Anglin, Guest Contributor
Northern bobwhite images taken on the Katy Prairie by "Alan Gutsell on Flickr" (CC BY 2.0)
As a country kid roaming the piney woods and plentiful pastures of rural north Louisiana each summer, I remember mimicking the "bob-WHITE" call. With each attempt, I hoped a northern bobwhite would answer back like they did for my father's whistle. But I could not, and still can't, whistle. My inept attempts at using my shrillest voice to approximate the call never quite worked. But that did not stop me from practicing the high-pitched bobwhite’s call frequently.
Since my childhood a half century ago, the familiar call has dwindled to a rare event both in my hometown and here in the Houston area where I have lived for decades. Even now, I live on a farm in a rural community west of the city, the bobwhite is not a part of everyday life.
The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is also known as bobwhite quail, bobwhite partridge, Virginia quail, or Virginia partridge. Its US population has declined rapidly since the mid-60s. In just the last 40 years, numbers have dropped almost 90%. In 1980, the autumn US bobwhite count was 58+ million; in 2022, fewer than 6 million birds dot the expansive region they inhabit. According to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD), since 1980, bobwhite populations across our state have declined at a rate of about 5.6% per year for a total of about a 75% loss in bobwhites over the last 40 years. 2014 brought a rebound for a few years that was wiped out by the combined brutal winters and drought conditions over the last couple of years, cutting their numbers lower than ever. Ken Rosenberg, retired scientist with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, recently stated that grassland bird species are experiencing the steepest declines of any group of birds.
Declines in bobwhite populations began being noticed in the 1930s mostly by hunters. The birds’ habitat of mixed grassland with nearby cover of trees and shrubs to protect them from predators became more difficult to find. Modern agriculture shifted to massive fields with mechanized practices and away from the typical 40-acre family farm that lacked noisy mechanized equipment but had abundant surrounding shrubs and trees. Improved fire-fighting methods and public policy governing prescribed burns reduced forest fires that cleared mature trees to create bobwhite habitat. Chemical use has also played a role in making land unsuitable for the bobwhite.
Bobwhite pairs and their brood need a mix of grass, forbs (flowering weeds), and bare ground with vegetation that attracts insects for thumb-sized newly hatched chicks to feast. But more than just grassland, they also need woody cover such as brush, thickets, and wooded fringes for protection from raptors and winter’s cold. Too much cover from the lack of fire, or no cover at all because of clear-cutting or land development are equally devastating to the presence of bobwhites.
Northern bobwhite images taken on the Katy Prairie by "Alan Gutsell on Flickr" (CC BY 2.0)
The bobwhite is the only small galliform (land fowl) native to eastern North America. It is the only type of quail east of the Great Plains. Though its ability to live in a wide range of climates is positive for these birds, its land-dwelling nature and need for both grassland and wooded areas works against its survival. Urban sprawl, frequent floods, drought conditions, extraordinarily hot summers, and deep freezes decimate the bobwhite's nesting grounds and food sources.
Summer 2022 temperatures that soared in Texas and elsewhere were not favorable for the bobwhites. Texas Tech University Natural Resources Management reveals that temperatures of 104+ degrees Fahrenheit can be deadly for quail, and internal temperatures of 114-115 are fatal for the birds. Though bobwhites avoid nesting in areas that exceed 104 degrees, the birds may be caught off-guard by unexpected temperates that imperil their eggs, brood, or themselves.
This vulnerable species has a few things going for it that has prevented it from disappearing. Its diet is highly adaptable varying with season and location. The bobwhite eats many types of seeds with legumes such as lespedezas, tick-trefoils, trailing fuzzybeans, partridgepeas, and butterfly peas. They also eat leaves, berries, buds, roots, insects, spiders, snails, and insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, bees, flies, caterpillars, and crickets. Breeding females consume a high proportion of insects to provide adequate protein for egg production. The chicks also rely on mostly insects to fuel their growth.
In addition to a varied diet, the bobwhite has avoided extinction with its useful breeding habits. Both male and female bobwhites can have multiple mates in one season, enriching the genetics for survival. Each female can lay up to three clutches of 12-16 white to pale buff eggs a year. This prolific egg laying is nature's way of maintaining the species’ population despite its short life span. The oldest known bobwhite in the wild lived only six years. But, given human impact on their habitat and its ground-dwelling nature that exposes adults, chicks, and eggs to countless predators, the average life span of a bobwhite is 6 months. That doesn’t sound long, but they are mature adults by that time as most begin to lay eggs as early as 18 weeks of age.
Northern bobwhite images taken on the Katy Prairie by "Alan Gutsell on Flickr" (CC BY 2.0)
From March to May, bobwhite males claim their territories with their shrill calls. Within the claimed breeding ground, the male woos a hen, offering a mating dance similar to Bantam chickens with bowing, tail fanning, and strutting. Once the bobwhite pair mate, they work together to scratch out a depression and line it with grass and dead leaves arching taller stems over the top for shelter. The pair breed until October incubating eggs together and protecting hatchlings by luring predators away with a feigned broken wing. The parental duties are light as baby bobwhites are independent almost immediately, feeding themselves and developing the ability for short flights at 1-2 weeks of age.
The pair produce and raise 2-3 broods for a total of about two dozen chicks. The female takes on most nesting and chick duties, but if she is killed, the male will take over. They are truly a resilient bird.
Conservation efforts have been underway since the early 1920s when declining populations came under question by hunters who value the plump bird’s meat (note: hunting has never contributed to the bird’s numbers shrinking). Hunters have been at the forefront of conservation from the release of captive birds into the wild to influencing prescribed fire policy all the way to today’s more complex land management methods and support of conservation legislation for both public and private lands. Unfortunately, decades of governmental and private efforts have still not proved to be enough.
Few places remain where you can watch a dozen bobwhites take their short flight when flushed out by a hiding predator. The familiar call of the bobwhite quail is now less familiar. To hear this call, search “bobwhite” on the Coastal Prairie Conservancy on SoundCloud. A few bobwhite coveys breed on the Katy Prairie Preserve and other lands protected by the Coastal Prairie Conservancy. But only by happenstance are you likely to see or hear one calling.
Good news is on the horizon with the introduction of the North American Grasslands Conservation Act in July 2022 to the US Senate. If enacted, the legislation will empower and encourage private landowners and Tribes to restore and conserve the precious resources that support not only treasured wildlife such as the bobwhite, but also address the climate crisis. It is a win for fauna and flora diversity and humans.
The bobwhite has been around more than 2.5 million years as evidenced by 700 known fossils found in sites from Florida to Arizona to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Here's how you can help create a world where they can thrive for the next millennium and beyond:
Learn more and consider volunteering or supporting financially:
Write to your federal representatives to ask for their support of the North American Grasslands Conservation Act.