In my younger days, I listened to a rock band, made famous in part by the classic song "Freebird." A verse in the song states, “And this bird you cannot change.” Evidently it was referring to the bobwhite quail, which for all intents and purposes has not changed. And, no matter how hard we want it to, it will not and cannot change.
Studies conducted as far back as 90 years ago documented the positive response of quail populations to the disturbance of vegetation. Some of those disturbances include the “the plow, match, axe and cow.” These tools, used properly, can mimic what prehistorically provided quail habitat: high-impact grazing by large herds of bison, plus late summer and fall fires mainly started by Native Americans.
We have conducted a number of studies during the last 20 years that still support those older studies. Most recently we have a number of radio-collared quail on two conservation areas in Southwest Missouri. The radio collars allow our staff to follow movements of the birds and in many cases determine the fate of nests, broods or adults. Our aim is to determine if quail are using the habitat improvements on those areas. We are also looking to see if there are differences in overall productivity and survival between one area, which is primarily native prairie, and the other area, which has a mixture of agricultural fields, grazed pasture and native woodlands. For example, we can determine if they prefer shrubby cover equally on both study sites or not.
On area consisting of native prairie, we still have 18 birds radio-collared. Nineteen nests have been documented so far this summer. Seven nests have hatched, seven have been destroyed and six are still being incubated. All but one destroyed nest was ruined by predators such as snakes, mice and larger mammals. This roughly matches nest success studies from the 1950s and 1990s. The first nests hatched during Memorial Day weekend, which is about two weeks earlier than normal, but not unexpected. Past studies have documented quail hatching in Missouri from May up to October.
What is most revealing is that 98 percent of adult observations and 100 percent of brood observations on the native prairie area this spring and summer have been on patch-burn grazed native prairie. Whether during the time of the buffalo or today, in the time of the cow, when fire and grazing are judiciously applied to a grassland landscape it is good for “Mr. Bobwhite.” This bird has never changed--and I still listen to "Freebird."