Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 13, 1994 TAG: 9407070011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``A skunk,'' Fies said, pointing out how the side of each egg had been pushed in and sucked clean.
Fies, a small-game research biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, is heading a three-year, $65,000 research project on quail nesting and brood range. The quail with the broken nest is one of about 20 birds he has fitted with nickel-size radio collars so their movements can be followed. The project is designed to help determine why quail numbers have declined in Virginia and what can be done to reverse the trend.
A broken nest is a disturbing sight, Fies said, especially to someone who is delighted by the crisp sound of ``bob-bob white'' notes riding on the warm breezes of a spring morning. Or to a hunter who considers the booming flush and flight of a covey of birds to be one of the most tension-provoking happenings of all outdoors.
The hen whose nest had been destroyed a couple of weeks ago would have time to renest, but counting the new nest construction, the egg laying, the incubation period, it would take about seven weeks.
``That's a major commitment,'' Fies said.
No one is questioning the persistence of a hen quail, but there are many uncertainties about whether these stately little birds have the kind of favorable nesting conditions necessary to advance their kind.
``I guess the hypothesis is that quail may be doing poorly in Virginia because of either a lack of nesting habitat or because even in suitable habitat the nesting success is poor,'' said Fies.
For more than a decade, something has been terribly wrong with the quail population throughout most of Virginia and across the Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions.
``Hunter surveys conducted by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries show that the total number of quail bagged by Virginia sportsmen declined from almost 1.2 million in 1968 to fewer than 200,000 in 1989,'' Fies said.
The population appeared to reach its lowest point during the 1988-89 season, when it took about four hours, on average, for an accomplished hunter with a dog just to locate and flush a covey of birds, according to the state's yearly quail survey.
That dismal number has eased upward a bit, but not by much. Many bird hunters simply have abandoned the sport, especially in the western end of the state where quail populations are the lowest. Pointing dog ownership has declined. Recruitment of new bird hunters from the ranks of young sportsmen is down. One study revealed that the average age of a quail hunter is 45.
A number of theories have been advanced to explain the long-term decline of quail, but Fies voices the one heard most often from both biologists and hunters.
``I think the overall driving force is the change in land patterns. I have analyzed the agriculture data over the years and the decrease in farmland and the increase in cattle is just staggering. All of these statistics work against the quail.''
When quail are pushed into increasingly smaller pockets of cover, then predation may play a larger role, Fies said. Three of the first four nesting efforts he has monitored have been broken up by predators.
``I am not ready to blame predators for everything. I think a lot of people would welcome that opportunity. It is possible that perhaps predation is more significant than we have given it credit for in recent years. That is something we will get to look at on this nesting study.''
Fies began trapping quail in Amelia County and fitting them with chest-mount radio transmitters in early spring. Plans call for significantly increasing the number of birds monitored next year when the project will be expanded to a second area in the eastern part of the state.
The reproduction cycle is getting close attention, because there is an annual turnover in the quail population of about 75 percent to 80 percent, said Fies.
``So if you don't have decent reproduction, you don't have any quail. Just one year of a bust and your birds take a nose dive. But the good news, if you get suitable conditions, they also can rebound pretty quickly if you have the right habitat.''
Fies doesn't anticipate that the study will result in a marked difference in quail hunting regulations. At times, game species like deer and turkey can be managed by season lengths and bag limits, but that doesn't work as well with quail.
``I don't think it is a real big mystery on how to bring back quail. I think there are tried and true success stories in habitat management techniques that we already know about that can improve quail populations on individual pieces of land. The challenge is getting landowners to put these into practice.
``A lot of the habitat is on farmland, and farmers are struggling. It is tough times for them, and their priority right now is not to provide bird habitat. But when it can be done without costing them it becomes an educational effort for us.''
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries already has publications and technicians available to help landowners enhance quail habitat on their property. There's even some cost sharing available through federal-state programs. By the end of his study, Fies hopes to be able to provide even more precise information on what is needed for the best recruitment of juvenile birds during the spring and summer months.
KEEP
BOB
Whistling
The Game Department starts a
project
to
Mike Fies
by CNB