Can this year’s high population of bobwhite quail in Texas be sustained? It’s a question Dr. Dale Rollins is being asked by landowners and wildlife managers.
Rollins is the executive director of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch near Roby and a wildlife specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He says he’s hopeful this year’s bobwhite quail abundance can be sustained.
“Perhaps, two of the more important positive things are, number one, the number of birds that we carried over into breeding season. Our bird numbers going into May, which we define as the beginning of the nesting season, should be very strong. And that’s one of the strongest predictors we have of how many quail we’re going to have next fall is how many we go into the breeding season with,” Rollins told the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network. “Secondly, the habitat looks great right now. We’ve got a great crop of filaree, and generally, a green landscape this time of year transcends into good reproductive efforts for the bobwhite. We’re off to a good start, through June, at least.”
He said key months for nesting success will be July and August. If it’s cool and wet during those months, the nesting season can continue. If it’s hot and dry, he said the nesting season can come to an abrupt halt. As a result, Rollins is encouraging landowners and land managers to be conservative in their cattle stocking rates to sustain nesting cover.