Biologists Show Optimism For
This Year’s Quail Population

SAN ANGELO — "It's been one quail of a summer," says Dr. Dale Rollins, Texas Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist here.

"Making quail production forecasts is always risky," says Rollins. "But I feel pretty confident this season, at least in terms of what's going on across much of the Rolling Plains."

Historically, the best areas for bobwhite quail are the Rolling Plains and South Texas, he notes, and historically quail populations are tied to rainfall. That's where the situation changes somewhat this year. A lot of the Rolling Plains received some earlier rains, and right now, quail numbers look the best they've been since 1992.

"Our quail hatch typically peaks in June for the Rolling Plains. If we get a good June hatch, as I believe we've had this year, anything from this point on is just icing on the cake. Initially, we started out with a cool, dry summer, but in July, it turned into a cool, wet summer. It's been perfect quail-making weather," Rollins says.

"The rains have also set the table for quail chicks. Insects are the staple of a quail chick's diet, and many areas have an abundance of grasshoppers. While that may cause problems for agriculturalists, it's good news for quail," he adds.

Dr. Leonard Brennan, professor and Endowed Chair for Quail Research at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute of Texas A&M University-Kingsville, reports that July rains in South Texas promise to be a real boon for that area as well. He says the moisture prompted a mid-season surge of nesting activity after a slow start to the quail breeding season there.

"The rain and unusually cool weather, along with a surge in grass and other plant cover, all work together to mitigate the lethal effects of midsummer heat, which can drastically reduce the amount of habitat for the birds," says Brennan.

"By keeping good nesting cover on the ground, in the form of abundant, native bunch grasses, a number of South Texas ranches have been able to carry fair-to-good densities (up to a bird per acre) of bobwhites through the past drouth. These places are in a position to benefit most. They should see excellent quail production from these unusual midsummer rains," Brennan says.

South Texas properties without good bunch grass for nesting cover will be slower to respond to the midsummer rainfall bonanza, he adds, because it will take at least a year or two and maybe longer for the bunch grass to grow to the point where it can provide enough nesting habitat for the birds.

Dr. Fidel Hernandez, quail researcher at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, says the range in much of South Texas is almost unrecognizable now after the rains compared to how bad it looked before.

"There is abundant lush vegetation and a lot of insects right now," says Hernandez. "I flush grasshoppers with every step out there. The lush vegetation has not changed the relatively low density of nesting sites, but it has decreased, at least visually, the amount of bare ground, which should cool off the microclimate at the quails' level.

"I suspect these recent rains will manage to extend the nesting season into August and early September. Without these rains, I would speculate the dry, hot conditions would have shortened the nesting season to early August," he adds.

"The good thing about being a quail biologist is that, just like a weatherman, it's about the only job where you can be consistently wrong and never get fired."

Rollins bases part of what he believes this year's state quail dynamics to be on the newly initiated Texas Quail Index, a cooperative effort among Extension, private landowners and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The demonstration spans 40 traditional Texas quail counties and seven Parks and Wildlife Department management areas.

The five-year demonstration project is coordinated by Rollins and run by Extension agents in each of the counties involved. TQI monitors quail population trends and related habitat variables. The goal is to measure certain production variables to see if any of them will predict quail abundance in the coming season.

According to Rollins, landowners, managers and others concerned about quail want some way to predict in May and June what the coming season might offer in December.

In May, cooperators conduct whistle call counts, dummy nest surveys, plant counts and predator abundance measurements. During August and September, they conduct roadside counts and fall covey-call counts. During the hunting season, they monitor the number of covey flushes per hour in a given area and determine the percentage of juvenile birds taken, which is a measure of reproductive success.

"We've gotten preliminary data in from about half the TQI counties," says Rollins. "The highest whistle call counts we've heard is 10 birds per stop, which is very good. That occurred in both Fisher and Collingsworth counties, with Childress and Kent counties being only slightly less."

Those numbers may be a little optimistic, Rollins says, because most of the landowners involved with this study are concerned about their quail and so might have a higher population than neighbors who manage for them less. But, he believes, the figures suggest that quail populations are on an upward trend.

"I'm also getting quite a few anecdotal reports on quail sightings from people well outside of the traditional quail areas. Some of these from the Llano and San Saba area report seeing and hearing more quail than they have in years," he adds.

Rollins says he is getting favorable reports on blue quail populations from the Snyder area and from just west of San Angelo. Because he has not received any reports yet from the Trans-Pecos region, he doesn't know how well blue quail populations are faring farther west.

"We know when it comes to quail numbers, rainfall accounts for 40 percent to 50 percent of the birds' success," says Rollins. "What's happening on the land in terms of grazing and brush management accounts for the rest of the story."

Rollins says interest between landowners and hunters has been bullish on quail in recent years.

"We've held over 30 'Quail Appreciation Days' across much of Texas since 1999," Rollins says, referring to a series of one-day Extension workshops. "The participation levels have been inspiring and attention to quails' needs have never been more keen. Texans are concerned about their quail.

"A lot of our prime quail country looked pathetic coming into the breeding season, but the rains we've had since then are just what the doctor ordered for quail and range rehabilitation alike," he says.

More information about the Texas A&M University System's quail efforts may be found at http://teamquail.tamu.edu.

TPWD will be releasing its fall quail season forecast in September based on roadside counts done in August. The counts have been conducted for 25 years. Those projections can be found at www.tpwd.state.tx.us.

Data on historic population trends since 1966 on all bird life, including quail, are available at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's "Breeding Bird Survey" site at: http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs.