By Michael Hazelbaker, Holly Lott, Clay Sisson, Justin Rectenwald, and Amanda Cramer
Tall Timbers has monitored bobwhite via radio-telemetry for over 40 years, one of the longest studies on game birds in the United States. This technique allows us to measure demographics such as survival and reproduction that drive bobwhite populations. We do this to better understand bobwhite ecology and management so that we can provide managers with relevant guidance. This breeding season, Tall Timbers staff monitored over 800 bobwhite across four properties in the Albany, Central Florida and Red Hills regions.
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Albany Quail Project
The foundation for this year’s quail population in Albany, Georgia was built on last fall’s high and stable population. The carry-over from fall to spring was slightly lower than the long-term average because of higher winter hawk mortality. With this lower breeding population, we needed a strong hatch to compensate.
The 2024 nesting season began with a slow start and dry conditions in June but was followed by consistent rains in July, a strong midsummer hatch, and steady reproduction later in August. Despite having summer adult survival that was lower than in recent years, we observed nesting success that was better than average, above average brood production from hens, and fairly high male contribution to incubation and brood rearing.
When combining male and female reproduction, 2024 is the second highest total reproduction year in the last decade for the Albany region. Local land managers reported numerous sightings of young broods in mid-September, which is promising given their shorter time to make it to hunting season. All of this information combined gives us some cautious optimism going into the fall that the population may be similar to what it was last year.
Central Florida Rangeland Quail Program
Similar to Albany, Escape Ranch witnessed below average overwinter survival, which resulted in a lower spring density to start the breeding season. Additionally, lower reproduction in 2023 contributed to the low initial spring population. Breeding bobwhites responded to the decrease in spring density with a surge in nest initiations this year compared to 2023.
We observed two distinct peaks in nest initiation, one in mid-May and one in mid-July. From April to June, nest and brood success was good. A moderately dry spring and summer contributed to the high chick survival during this time. Unfortunately, nest success declined in the latter half of the breeding season which resulted in low overall nest success for the year. Yet, brood survival remained high for the nests that did hatch.
Last year, we recorded a site record high spring density, followed by below average nest initiation. We observed the opposite interaction this year, which may suggest a consistent relationship between spring density and reproduction for a stable population in this region. In summary, we are expecting fewer birds on the landscape headed into the fall.
Red Hills
Livingston Place, located on the eastern edge of the Red Hills region, documented higher than average overwinter survival yet started the breeding season with a spring density lower than the previous year. This lower breeding population was likely due to lower than average reproduction in 2023.
Summer survival was similar to the long-term average, which was helpful given the lower starting population. Reproduction was down compared to the long-term average, but both nest initiation and nest success were up compared to 2023. Meanwhile, on the western edge of the Red Hills region, Tall Timbers also entered the breeding season with a spring density lower than 2023 due in part to low reproduction in 2023. Summer adult survival was above the long-term average for the third consecutive year.
Similar to Livingston Place, Tall Timbers had a second consecutive year of below average reproduction but saw an increase when compared to 2023.
A late nesting effort occurred on Tall Timbers, with 20% of female bobwhite incubating nests in mid-September and nests hatching in early October. Summer precipitation came in pulses with periods of dry followed by periods of abundant rainfall. Frequent afternoon showers appeared to lower chick survival at Tall Timbers, but that effect was not as apparent at Livingston Place.
At the end of September, Hurricane Helene carved a path along the eastern side of the Red Hills. Many quail properties are dealing with serious clean-up efforts to get the woods ready to hunt. While extreme weather can be challenging for wildlife, bobwhite are resilient, which we again noted following Helene. For example, on Tall Timbers, which was on the western edge of the hurricane, only 2 out of 60 adult bobwhite died during the time period of the storm, and no nests or broods were lost.
Livingston Place, which took a much more direct hit, experienced no adult bobwhite mortality and had no active nests or broods to be impacted. Despite not having the best reproduction year, we expect the Red Hills to have similar bird numbers or be slightly down and have similar hunting conditions as in 2023.
Summary
Across the four bobwhite monitoring properties, we observed lower spring densities due to increased overwinter mortality or poor reproduction from the previous year. Nest initiation varied between the properties, but differences in nest survival resulted in similar brood numbers. We anticipate the fall populations in the Albany and Red Hills regions will be similar to last year, while the population in Central Florida will be lower
