[TN-Bird] Bobwhite quail need more help
- From: Viclcsw@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:13:27 -0400 (EDT)
Thank you, Bill, for this insightful Breeding Bird Survey analysis. It is
apparent that we ALL need to put our heads together, not as separate
organizations, but all conservation groups as one community, to see what in
addition to current efforts can be done to help the bobwhite quail in our
state, and in our country. Shouldn't the bobwhite quail be listed as
endangered
in Tennessee/in the USA?
Approximately nine years ago, I heard Ralph Dimmick, a biologist and
expert on the bobwhite quail, speak at the sandhill crane festival at
Birchwood.
His words impressed me at that time, and the concern he raised for this
species has remained with me. He showed graphs and described a community
ecology that predicted the decline that is reported in Bill's analysis
below. He likened the bobwhite quail and its breeding community to the
passenger pigeon whose extinction could not be predicted with numbers ecology.
The extinction of the passenger pigeon happened for many reasons, but one of
the chief reasons was, it declined below the community size required for
breeding.
Do we know the numbers of bobwhites that must exist in a community inorder
for breeding to occur? It is well known, that neither the wildness of
this species nor its community ecology can be taught by humans. There will be
no reintroduction of this bird if it's wild community ecology is lost.
They become like domestic chickens, without defense against predation.
Below, I have pasted (not sure that's allowed on the listserve) Bill Pulliam's
graph and analysis of the breeding bird surveys for bobwhite quail.
In the alternative, please also visit the link to Bill's website to see
his entire report. It is very interesting. Bobwhites are found in the group
"waterfowl to herons".
http://bbill.blogspot.com/2011/09/breeding-bird-survey-in-
tennessee-45.html
Northern Bobwhite
(http://4.bp.
blogspot.com/-o9xl_D2Klv4/ToP4gyKzlqI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/rlbDTU4rXrk/s1600/NorthernBobwhite.png)
35 year change: -26.00 (-78%) ± 2.11
This is one of the most disturbing graphs that came out of this project.
Not only has this formerly abundant bird shown a drastic decline, the drop
appears to be linear (possibly even accelerating). Projecting this line
forward shows a Bobwhite that has been effectively extirpated from Tennessee
in
2014 -- just three years away. If you look at the change from 1966 to 2010
(rather than the difference in the 10-year averages), the decline is
nearly 90%. In the 1960s this was one of the most abundant species on
Tennessee
BBS routes; in recent years it is has not been detected at all on many of
them.
Vickie Henderson
Knoxville, TN
Knox County
In a message dated 10/11/2011 11:31:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
littlezz@xxxxxxxxx writes:
I have done some examinations and analyses of the 45 years of
Breeding Bird Survey data for Tennessee (1966 through 2010) and
posted some of the results on my blog:
http://bbill.blogspot.com/2011/09/breeding-bird-survey-in-
tennessee-45.html
Though some species have shown major declines since the BBS began in
1966, and one (Bewick's Wren) has been all but extirpated, overall
the story is quite positive. Most species have increased during this
time, with a median change of +66%. Raptors and forest birds have
fared the best overall. Non-neotropical migrant forest species have
on average tripled in abundance; raptors have shown a median increase
of nearly 8-fold! Even the beleaguered neotropical migrants have for
the most part held steady or increased.
Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
Other related posts:
