Bobwhite Quail Population Off 60% in Southeast

The number of bobwhite quail, with a familiar two-note tune that brought it a name, has dropped by 60% in the last 30 years, some experts say.

“If you had to pick a bird whose call would be recognized by a majority of people in the eastern U.S., you’d pick a bobwhite,” said Rudy Mancke, host of South Carolina Educational Television’s “NatureScene.”

New farming practices and urban sprawl are gobbling up the thickets that the bobwhite once thrived in, a predicament also faced by a variety of species in the South.

The bobwhite quail is not an endangered species, but its numbers are dwindling rapidly. The small brown-and-white game birds, brightly decorated with stripes and speckles, are probably at their lowest numbers in more than 200 years, Mancke said.

Since the mid-1960s, regional surveys show that bobwhite quail populations have dropped an estimated 60% in the Southeast. If the downward spiral continues, measurable quail populations could vanish in 15 years, according to a 1995 study by the Wildlife Management Institute.

Quail thrive in what are known as “edges,” small, overgrown strips of brush often found on small farms, between fields and the deep woods.

Farmers used to avoid planting near the tree line because it was difficult to grow crops in the shade. But Mancke says large corporate farms have bulldozed quail habitat in an effort to use every yard of space.

Other species also harm the quail population. Deer, for example, are suspected of eating seed-producing vegetation that bobwhites need, the state Natural Resources Department says.

South Carolina and other states are trying to help landowners recreate quail habitat so quail populations can rebound.