[TN-Bird] Quail habitat
- From: tnbarredowl@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:31:06 -0500
Here's another 2 cents (anybody collecting this money, by the way?)
Growing up in Lawrence County, TN, I spent many hours bobwhite hunting on my
grandfather's farm.? I also remember flushing many coveys during Buffalo River
CBC's in the late 70's.? I watched the data on this count as bobwhite numbers
began to decline, and now, I hold my breath during compilation, hoping at least
one party will find some.? Living in north Alabama now, I see the decline here
as well.? Several years ago, FWS obtained several hundred acres, mostly cotton
farms, west of Florence to establish Key Cave NWR.? Bobwhite were all
but?absent from this property at the time.? The fields were removed from cotton
production.? Some were converted to small grains (corn/soybean), others to
native warm season grasses (NWSG).? In just a few years, bobwhite have become a
staple on the property, with several coveys recorded during routine surveys,
and their calls ringing out daily all summer.??I have been part of a TVA team
working to increase wildlife habitat on the TVA Reservatio
n in Muscle Shoals.? Part of our efforts has been the conversion of about 50
acres of fescue/bermuda hay fields into NWSG.? Like Key Cave, bobwhite are now
present where they were once absent.? NWSG with prescribed fire treatments
work, especially if large land tracts can be converted.? We (TVA) converted
another 90 acres of grain crops to NWSG last year near?Cherokee, AL...I'm
hoping?to count bobwhites in the next few years.? As mentioned in an earlier
post,?the?prevalence of bobwhites in this area?by the mid-1900's may have been
a result of post Civil War?farm practices.? During the later half of the
century, farm productivity programs helped farmers convert their "weedy" fields
into productive fescue pastures.? This conversion was also stressed to help
reduce erosion from these gullied fields.? Unfortunately, fescue/bermuda fields
provide very poor habitat for bobwhites.? Fire suppression has also played a
major role in this decline as well.? Bobwhite is a species of earl
y succession fields.? Remove the early succession, and remove the bo
bwhite.
Damien Simbeck
Killen, AL
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