A
Anonymous
When the wild plum thread (below) digressed to discussing quail, it got me thinking about a theory I’ve developed. I find it interesting that others in different parts of the country have also experienced a decline in quail populations. We’re on the rebound, based on my non-scientific observations around here, with more coveys than I’ve seen in at least 20 years.
The assumption here in central Texas has always been that fire ants were the culprit. Around here the fire ants came in about the time quail started to suffer. These days it seems like we’ve got as many fire as ever but the quail seem to be getting stronger over the past couple of years, so that explanation doesn’t seem to make sense.
Here’s my theory - y’all can tear it up and tell me what’s wrong with it. About the time the ants started coming in and the quail started getting scarce there was also a big increase in the hawk population. When I was young there weren’t that many hawks in this area. They weren’t uncommon, but they weren’t plentiful either.
I’ve wondered if the hawk population increased because the old-timers were dying off. A generation ago everybody that lived in the country kept chickens. Everybody that kept chickens shot every hawk they saw. When that generation started dying off, so did the quail because the hawks #1 natural enemy was fading away and the hawks were allowed to flourish. There was nothing to prevent the flourishing hawks from decimating the quail.
As a side note, jackrabbits also had a significant drop in population and seem to be on a slight rebound. They’re not making as strong of a comeback as the quail (which is good), but you see more than you did a few years ago. An increase in hawks could have hurt the rabbits also.
The weakness of this theory is that there are still plenty of hawks around. Anyway, I’d be interested to get other folks’ take on it, and also learn whether quail are making a comeback across the country.
Craig-TX
The assumption here in central Texas has always been that fire ants were the culprit. Around here the fire ants came in about the time quail started to suffer. These days it seems like we’ve got as many fire as ever but the quail seem to be getting stronger over the past couple of years, so that explanation doesn’t seem to make sense.
Here’s my theory - y’all can tear it up and tell me what’s wrong with it. About the time the ants started coming in and the quail started getting scarce there was also a big increase in the hawk population. When I was young there weren’t that many hawks in this area. They weren’t uncommon, but they weren’t plentiful either.
I’ve wondered if the hawk population increased because the old-timers were dying off. A generation ago everybody that lived in the country kept chickens. Everybody that kept chickens shot every hawk they saw. When that generation started dying off, so did the quail because the hawks #1 natural enemy was fading away and the hawks were allowed to flourish. There was nothing to prevent the flourishing hawks from decimating the quail.
As a side note, jackrabbits also had a significant drop in population and seem to be on a slight rebound. They’re not making as strong of a comeback as the quail (which is good), but you see more than you did a few years ago. An increase in hawks could have hurt the rabbits also.
The weakness of this theory is that there are still plenty of hawks around. Anyway, I’d be interested to get other folks’ take on it, and also learn whether quail are making a comeback across the country.
Craig-TX