With the end of the 2024-2025 quail hunting season in our rearview mirror, the RPQRR is looking forward to getting several new research projects up and running. One such project is to refine how quail populations are censused over time. From a quail hunter’s perspective, hunters are keenly interested in the number of birds which enter the spring breeding season and how many eventually survive until the fall hunting season. Historically, and currently, the most common technique is to listen for, and record, calling individuals. In the fall, Bobwhite quail give a characteristic “wake-up” call in the morning. These morning calls are very short in duration, 10-20 minutes, but can allow an observer an opportunity to estimate the number of coveys present in a specific area. During the spring, male Bobwhite quail vociferously proclaim their infamous “Bob-White” whistle. Recording the number of calling males heard can give an estimate of the number of birds in general area. Counting the number of calling birds is easy and inexpensive to preform, however, usefulness of any results is highly dependent on environmental conditions (i.e. temperature and wind) and the skill level of the observer. Often multiple observers at the same place and time will hear and record different numbers of calls, resulting in wildly variable population indices. Conducting multiple repeated surveys with different people can help reduce this variability, but requires much more time and personnel.
In the past decade or so, Autonomous Recording Units (ARU’s) have become popular in the wildlife profession. Briefly, these are recorders permanently installed in the field set to record all audio sounds at specific time intervals. Sophisticated software then analyzes the audio files and detects each occurrence of whatever sound you wish for it to identify. In minutes, hundreds of hours of recordings can be scanned and the number of “Bob-White” whistles counted. These recorders will help eliminate observer biases and limitations; the recorder is the sole “observer.” Additionally, many more days can be sampled. With in-person surveys, an observer may be able to survey only a few locations a dozen or so times. Once installed, these ARU’s record continuously, every day. ARU’s are not without faults, they are expensive (~$1,000 each), require some minimal computer programing to extract data, and record tremendously large data files, requiring extensive computer storage capabilities. Our testing of these ARU’s strives to determine if the quality of data these units record increases our confidence in our Fall and Spring population indexes.
Also, we are starting our investigation into the effectiveness of the medicated feed QuailGuard. This medicated feed was recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of parasitic worms infecting wild quail. The active ingredient, Fenbendazole, has been known for decades as an effective dewormer in the domestic livestock and poultry industries. Laboratory and preliminary field studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of QuailGuard at reducing and sometimes eliminating parasitic worm infections in wild quail. However, questions remain: do dewormed quail experience a higher survival rate thus significantly contributing to the overall fitness of the population? In other words, by deworming a population of quail, will it result in more quail in future generations? Furthermore, what percentage of the population must be dewormed to see a positive effect? How often must the medicated feed be available to see a positive effect? What is the best delivery method to ensure a significant number of quail receive an efficacious dose? These are all questions RPQRR biologists will attempt to answer over the next 3 years. Three independent ranches in the Rolling Plains Ecoregion have been evaluated and selected as test sites. In the coming months control and treatment plots will be established. Sample quail will be trapped and fitted with GPS tracking collars, to observe their propensity to visit feeding stations and consume the medicated feed. Prevalence of parasitic worm infections will be monitored and population estimates will be calculated over the next 3 years. Quail populations are influenced by a host of factors, some are beyond our control (i.e., weather), but others maybe we can (i.e., disease). By continuingly learning more and more about quail population dynamics the RPQRF strives to ensure huntable quail populations for current and future generations. – by Dan Foley
