Many Missouri landowners believe that their farms have not changed within their lifetimes and the recent decline in quail is due to predators or something else. But from a quail’s eye view, the habitat has changed.  Change has been so gradual that it has gone unnoticed by most people, including the loss or degradation of quail and other grassland bird habitats across the higher rainfall areas of the southeastern United States.

Farm and Field Size:

One landscape change that started slowly in the 1950s and is accelerating today is the increase in size of farm fields due to economics of farming. Over the last half-century, America called on farmers to feed the world by cultivating fencerow to fencerow. Not only has farm field size increased, but the size of Missouri farms is ever-increasing (Figure 1.) This has accounted for considerable loss of quail habitat.  Fencelines and draws are bulldozed to make farming with larger machinery more efficient.

Figure 1. Change in Missouri farm size (Missouri Department of Agriculture).

Agricultural Crop Changes:

What is produced on the farm has also changed over the years. Today, what normally is planted to corn or beans was planted to a diversity of forages in 1950--small grains and corn to help support several types of livestock being raised on the same farm. Tall fescue replaced Korean lespedeza as the most common livestock forage between 1940 and 1980, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Soybeans and the number of cattle also increased during this period.  Acreage devoted to dairy cattle, swine, sheep, wheat, oats and grain sorghum declined.

From Shrubs and Weeds to Woodlands:

Missouri forestland has increased from 12.9 million acres in 1972 to 14 million acres in 1989. Part of this increase includes invasive trees such as cedar, elm, honey locust and hedge replacing shrubby cover. Between 1989 and 2000, total volume of all live trees on timberland increased 25 percent from 13.9 billion cubic feet to 17.3 billion cubic feet.

If you think that the habitat on your property or hunting ground hasn’t changed over the last several decades, visit your local U.S. Department of Agriculture office and ask for aerial photos of your land from the 1950s, 60s, or 70s.  If older photos are available, you may be very surprised at the comparisons between then and now.

Aerial Photos: 60 acres in Northwest Missouri, 1973 and 2003

1973                                       2003

THEN:  In 1973, the larger fields on the north side of the farm were broken up into smaller fields featuring woody fencerows and draws. 

NOW:  A completely different situation exists in 2003.  Trees shade any potential “covey headquarters” (compare arrows on photos).  A hedge tree grows an average six inches per year; change is slow. But after 30 years, the tree stands 15 feet taller and the width of the area shaded by that tree has increased 30 feet. Underneath that wider canopy, other trees have sprouted and shrubs and weeds have disappeared.  Today, the land manager is trying to restore earlier small fields as shown on the south field in the 2003 photo.

 Aerial Photos: Missouri Ozark Border Region, 1968 and 1996

1968                                                                                                                      1996

THEN:  In 1968, glades and post oak savanna mixed in the center.  Grain fields were on the west and north sides, and small pastures (most likely lespedeza) on the east side.  

NOW:  Eastern red cedar (darker areas) encroached the glades and post oak savannas. Most grain fields have been converted to fescue pastures or have been abandoned and are now cedar thickets (compare arrows on photos).  

Urban Sprawl:

Urbanization is producing the most rapid changes to quail habitat, but is the most difficult to do anything about.  One easily understood comparison estimates that 1/3 the area of an average-sized Missouri county is converted to housing, lawns, roads, and other urban and suburban developments each year (U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Management of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Acres:

Quail populations spiked-up in northern and western Missouri during the early days of CRP.  Once those acreages became overgrown and dominated by grasses, quail populations resumed their long-term decline.  Research and demonstrations have revealed that lack of management of CRP grasslands is the primary reason for quail declines on CRP land; and with 1.5 million acres currently enrolled in Missouri, the effect on quail is real and significant.  Research in northeast Missouri shows that over 75% of CRP plantings are dominated by fescue, even when initially planted to other grasses. Management of CRP acres makes a difference for quail. CRP management demonstrations in northern Missouri produced as many as 1 covey on every 5 acres. Most landowners should see a covey on every 15 to 40 acres with proper CRP management.

There are many ways to create healthy habitat, from a quail’s eye view. To find out more about quail habitat, quail predators and habitat changes, read the Covey Headquarters Newsletter by visiting  www.coveyheadquarters.com and www.missouriconservation.org/landown/wild/quail .