Dry weather

By December 5, 2018 Articles
Rainfall

Last fall, winter and spring were terribly dry.  No winter greens bode poorly for reproduction.  A dry fall also meant poor germination of broomweed, which may have parlayed into reduced survival throughout this summer and fall.  Only 14 of our radio-marked hens attempted a nest (similar to 2011) and nest success was the lowest we’ve observed since 2008.  Akin to 2011, no broods were observed at 21 days post-hatch.  Our hopes for a quail season evaporated in June.  October doubled our YTD rainfall, but it was too little, too late . . . none of our radio-marked hens attempted a late nest.

nestsuccess 2

Our fall trapping session tallied 458 individual quail; that compares to 4,490 in 2016—a reduction of 90% since 2016.

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