Survival was “poor” throughout the year; overall the lowest survival we’ve measured. Several factors may have been involved, including poor cover, predation, and parasites. Predator numbers, and their “hunting success” may have been higher as a result of a lag in reproduction of predators from the previous two years. Abundance of cotton rats (a buffer species for bobwhites) declined 99% . . . we caught no cotton rats in our summer trapping effort. Parasites (eyeworms and cecal worms) were at “high” levels at RPQRR, and over much of the Rolling Plains. The debilitating effect of both of these nematodes may have reduced “fitness” and hence depressed survival.
