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Re: Fw: Request info on habitats



> ----- Original Message -----
> From: LaurieLLackey@aol.com
>
>       I am a native of Chapin, SC and over the years have noticed the
> seeming decrease of whippoorwills and quails in our area.  Now that I have
> my own home, I am interested in obtaining information about these two birds'
> habitat requirements and any other information that would help me to set up
> an area on my land to help entice these birds back to the area.  Do you have
> any such information or know where I can obtain it?

Hi Laurie,

Unfortunately, you'd need a LOT of land to help both of those species.
Northern Bobwhites, the only native quail in the eastern US, require open
grassy fields. To encourage them, you need to mow or burn a large area
regularly, maybe every 4-5 years, or stock it with grazing/browsing
animals at just the right density to hold back woody plants without
damaging the grasses. Most people graze too densely and damage the grass
until inedible plants take over. See
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/1998/forest/species/colivirg.htm
http://www.fb-net.org/papers/fw-buffers.htm
http://www.mdwfp.com/wildlifeissues/articles.asp?vol=6&article=70
http://msucares.com/pubs/pub2173.htm
http://msucares.com/pubs/pub2032.htm
for a little more on Bobwhites and managing for them.

Whip-poor-wills, on the other hand, though they often call from fields or
field edges, nest only in forests, especially dry upland hardwood forests.
See
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/1998/forest/species/caprvoci.htm
Since nobody hunts for or eats them, information on managing land for them
is much scarcer.

If you have to choose, i.e. don't have a huge estate with enough land to
manage habitat for both species, you should go for the Bobwhites.
Whip-poor-wills are decreasing in some areas but are generally still quite
common over much of the Carolinas and the eastern US in general.
Bobwhites, on the other hand, are decreasing rapidly in the eastern US as
their habitat either (a) gets developed or (b) grows up into forest (and
inhabited by Whip-poor-wills, probably) or (c) gets converted from
old-style farmland with hayfields and hedgerows into more modern,
efficient versions which are 100% plowed.

If you're lucky, promoting habitat for Bobwhite quail can also attract
other increasingly uncommon species, including Grasshopper and Henslow's
Sparrows, Horned Larks, Dickcissels, Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, and
Loggerhead Shrikes in the spring and summer; Snow Buntings, Longspurs,
American Pipits, and raptors like Northern Harriers in the winter. You
might even find an Upland Sandpiper, American Golden-Plover, or
Buff-breasted Sandpiper passing through during migration. Exactly which of
these species showed up would depend to some extent on how you manage your
fields, as some of them prefer longer grass with scattered shrubs, while
others only inhabit the shortest of grass. If you have enough land to work
with, you might be able to create both...

Good luck,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/