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....a Georgia study looked at which crop held the most insects preferred by quail broods. Millet consistently yielded higher numbers of insects than grain sorghum. Grain sorghum or milo had higher insect number than soybeans or wheat. A similar 1993 Missouri study ranked red clover and minimum tillage soybeans highest in insect yield. The best brood rearing cover might be a food plot of millet or milo with a plot of legumes nearby. One key to insect abundance is plant diversity. They thrive in a mixture of legumes, weed, and grasses. |
..a North Carolina State University study found 4 times as many quail in un-mowed field borders, ditches and roadsides than in the same habitats that were mowed. Missouri has also found that CRP mowing greatly reduces the suitability of a field for quail. Resist the temptation to mow these areas for cosmetic reasons because quail don't like pretty! They like it rough. |
. ..at
the White River Trace Conservation Area near Salem, MO, manager Rob Chapman
surveyed 3 times as many whistling males June and July 2002 on fields that
were burned in Sept 2001 than on fields burned in April 2001, and TWO times
as many on fields burned April of 2002. (Late summer and winter burns reduces the grass vigor, giving legumes and native plants a chance. Spring burns of native grass favors the grass, which crowds out the bare ground, legumes, AND quail!) |
...a Missouri study showed that 56% of quail nests are lost each nesting season.
Over 90% of these losses are from predators.
Primary nest predator s
were raccoons and snakes.
Other major nest predators were skunks, opossum, and foxes. ..Tall Timbers Research Station is conducting quail nest predator research by stationing video cameras on dummy nests. These dummy nests are filled with quail eggs and covered by a quail wing. The primary predator seems to vary from year to year. One year raccoons and snakes were the primary nest predators; another year it was cotton rats. Unusual nest predators included squirrel, deer, and barred owl. Partial depredation by small snakes was common. Small snakes may take up to half of eggs in a nest and further reduce quail reproduction efforts. |
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..North Carolina State University looked at quail population response from predator control vs habitat management. They looked at an area with predator control only, an area planted to field borders only, and another area planted to field borders with predator control. There was no significant difference in quail populations between the area with just field borders and the area with predator control AND field boarders. However, there were 2 times as many quail in the area that had only field borders vs the area with only predator control. |
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| ..in a survey conducted 2002 at an Andrew County landowner tour, 60% of respondents were doing some level of management on their properties AND 60% of respondents were seeing an increase of quail numbers over previous years.....AND 60% of respondents were seeing the covey headquarters concept in action on their properties. It seems that if we just do something for quail, they respond. |
...a Missouri quail study found that the average quail stays within 70 feet of shrubby cover, further reinforcing the covey headquarters concept! |
