Jason Hardin, Quail Conservation Initiative Coordinator with Audubon Texas, was our July speaker and he put on an exceptional program on quail and quail habitat management. Some key points from his talk follow:

Audubon’s Mission in Texas is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems focusing on birds, other wildlife and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.

Why focus on Quail & Grassland Birds?

Birds are an ecological litmus paper. Because of their rapid metabolism and wide geographic range, they reflect changes in the environment quickly — they warn us of things out of balance — sending us signals whenever there is deterioration in the ecosystem. (Roger Tory Peterson)

Bobwhite quail management has the potential to improve habitat for numerous grassland bird species.

Status of the Northern Bobwhite, Texas autumn population:

• 1980: 20,000,000 Birds
• 2002: 5,000,000 Birds

Decline of 75%, Annual rate of decline = 5.6%

Why the decline in quail and other grassland birds?

Oceans of habitat have become islands of habitat. Approximately 6 million acres of Coastal Prairie once supported a healthy population of Atwater’s prairie chickens. This area has been reduced to only 200,000 acres or 3% of its original range.

Conversion to agriculture, urban sprawl, “improved� pasture grasses, and declining range conditions associated with continuous grazing.

Issues Impacting Quail & Grassland Birds

Land use/management practices, land fragmentation, loss of native grasses, introduction of non-native species, fire suppression

The habitat problem is the major limiting factor and can be summarized as insufficient nesting and brood-rearing habitat

• The structure of nesting cover should be 9 to 12 inches diameter
• It should be residual grass 16 to 18 inches tall
• 30 to 40 percent of an area should be nesting cover with about 300 to 400 clumps per acre: Indiangrass, Seacoast Bluestem, Broomsedge Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Tanglehead, Switchgrass, Sideoats Grama

Brood-rearing Cover

• Forbs = “Weedy Plantsâ€� Sunflowers, Ragweed, Crotons (Dove weeds), Broomweed……and more.

These plants provide diversity which increases insects needed by incubating adults and chicks, cover from predators, shade to assist with thermoregulation, seeds for fall and winter forage, and bare ground for mobility.

Restoration Practices

• Increase acreage devoted to a mixture of native warm season grasses and forbs interspersed with low growing woody cover
• Habitat restoration can be accomplished by using a combination of brush control methods, prescribed burning, and rotational grazing

Quail Co-ops & Quail Conservation Areas are platforms to launch the Texas Quail Conservation Initiative.

95% of Texas is privately owned so Co-ops and conservation areas are essential for sustaining and rejuvenating Texas Quail.

Six Key Components:

1. Wildlife Management
2. Range/Cropland Management
3. Water Management
4. Research
5. Economics
6. Education

Quail need:

Places to Nest, Rest, and Feed!

Nesting Cover

LITTLE BLUESTEM is best. Other locally abundant native bunch grasses used for nesting include: Big Bluestem, Indiangrass, Switchgrass, Gulf Cordgrass, and more…….

Resting Cover (Loafing)

Woody Shrubs and Vines. These plants should cover between 5 and 25% of the total area and should be closed on top, open on bottom Locally abundant loafing covers include: Mesquite, Brasil, Granjeno, Wild Plum, Blackberry or Dewberry, Grapevine, McCartney Rose, and Yaupon

Feeding Cover

Weeds and grasses –Closed on top, open underneath, and associated with bare ground –Locally abundant feeding cover include Sunflower, Croton or Dove weed, Broom weed, Partridge pea, Cowpen daisy, Sumpweed, Ragweed, and more, all interspersed with native grasses Closed on top, open on bottom, bare ground, with seeds, insects, mobility, and protection from predators

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"…game can be restored by the creative use of the same tools which have heretofore destroyed it - ax, plow, cow, fire, and gun."

Aldo Leopold, Game Management, 1933

AX

• Brush Clearing •Strips vs. mottes, average quail flight distance ~ 45-50yds, doze, root-plow, root-rake, stack and burn, IPT, Aerial spray •All this has a long-term effect, but at high cost. MAINTAINANCE IS THE KEY (FOLLOWUP)
• Shredding •Simulates grazing but without hoof action, prevents grasses from becoming rank, removes small woody encroachment; does not discriminate against 1st choice plants or locations, avoid shredding during the nesting season • Relatively low cost and low headache. AVOID SHREDDING an ENTIRE PROPERTY EACH YEAR. Residual cover is very important.
• Aerators / Choppers •Choppers: Blades < 6â€�, up to 5 passes necessary, aerators: teeth > 8â€�, 2 – 3 passes, divots allow filtration of water and sunlight, less expensive than complete dozer treatments but needs maintenance via stocking rate and fire

PLOW

Fallow Disking: Tandem / offset disk plow, 2-4 inches deep, lightly breaks up the soil /sod, promotes seed producing plants (forbs), do not disk same strip in successive years, long and narrow strips •More cost-effective than food plots

COW

Over-grazed? Under-grazed? rotational system, native bunch grasses vs. exotic, 250 - 500 clumps per acre, differing stages of succession

FIRE

Prescribed Burns: Removes ground litter and rank grasses, temporarily increases bare ground percentage, patchwork of burned / unburned spots, slows brush encroachment, invigorates native warm-season grasses, stimulates forb growth •Low cost but high potential liability

GUN

Hunting: Typically quail hunting is self-regulating. When quail are plentiful, people hunt and when quail are limited, people watch the ball game. •Many corporate hunting leases go above and beyond regulations set by TPWD. • Q: Would birds die anyway or are we harvesting birds that would have nested? A: Birds alive during February will probably make it to the nesting season.

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Cover Management (Quick Fixes)

Prickly pear can be a quick solution to lack of cover, backberry/dewberry is another quick fix, half-cutting – labor intensive, brush shelters / tee-pees – short term, brush recovery can take 10 to 15 years, faster under fence posts or other perches, 50 feet in diameter, as low as 20% brush

Herbicides

• Foliar: Reclaim, Remedy & diesel, Remedy & Tordon
• Basal: Velpar, Remedy & diesel Some aerial applications stop forb growth for 2 seasons

Other Methods

Food plots are like bank loans, don’t count on them.

Feeders are a “no effect.� Road feeding may increase chance of over-harvest, but could be beneficial during drought periods. Waterers: not really cost effective on a broad scale

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER •Intersperison •Interspersion •Interspersion

Everything quail need to sustain a population should be provided on each acre of land. Nesting, feeding, and loafing cover. 250-400 native bunch grasses, 5-25% coverage of area in short brush species, and the rest in weeds or forbs.

For more information about Audubon Texas or Jason Hardin visit their website at http://www.audubon.tx.org