by Daniel King
The “tale of the tape:
- radio-marked hens alive May 1 = 44 (32 Bobs, 12 Blues)
- hens alive August 29 = 27 (21 Bobs, 6 Blues)
- first nest initiated 5/11/19
- first nest hatched 6/3/19
- total nests to date (8/29/19)= 34 (29 Bobs, 5 Blues)
- 20 hatched (17 Bobs, 3 Blue)
- 12 depredated (10 Bobs, 2 Blue)
- Hatch rate (“nest success”) = 58.8%
We define our nesting season as 1 May through 31 August. RPQRR’s final nest of the 2019 nesting season hatched on August 26, 2019 bringing the year’s nesting season to a close. Our first nest was initiated on May 11th by a bobwhite hen. That nest was our first successful nest of the year; it hatched on June 3rd. This year we have recorded a total of 34 nests initiated, 29 of which were bobwhite hens and 5 initiated by scaled quail. Of the 34 total nests 20 hatched (59%), 12 were depredated (35%), and 2 were abandoned (6%) as of August 29th. Three hens laid a second clutch following a successful first clutch and one of those hens hatched two successful clutches in the season. In total, we have recorded 205 eggs hatched (173 Bobs, 32 Blues) across the 34 nests.