Why Is the Bobwhite Quail Disappearing?

Population Trends

• Before modern farming methods changed the American landscape, quail lived on the borders of prairie and forest. When settlers cut down forests and divided the open countryside into fields, the hedgerows allowed quail populations to expand.

Fire Control

• Quail depend upon brushy areas for cover, but their food supply includes a variety of transition plants that thrive in burned areas. Eliminating the natural fire cycle reduced the forage quail need in late winter.

Intensive Farming

• As agriculture became more mechanized, small fields were combined into larger ones. Fencerows, the artificial habitat that supported the quail, became less common.

Chemicals

• Herbicides contributed to quail population decline by destroying wild vegetation in fencerows. Pesticides removed many of the insect species quail depend upon during the brooding season.

Countermeasures

• Farmers are now encouraged to provide habitat for quail and other wildlife by managing fencerows and providing food plots. Efforts to increase quail population by releasing birds raised in captivity have been unsuccessful.