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