|
If the nest is not destroyed by predators, heavy rains, fire or farm operations, the eggs will hatch after 23 days of incubation. Although many nesting at tempts are unsuccessful, the persistence of the quail in attempting to raise a brood successfully perpetuates the species When a nest is destroyed, the hen will usually select a new nesting site and try again. If the hen dies, and the nest is not destroyed, her mate will assume the incubation duties and raise the young. If the male dies during this period, a nearby bachelor male may take his place. A hen may leave the male to incubate her first nest while she lays eggs for, and incubates a second nest. We do not know how often this occurs in Nebraska.
Quail begin nesting in May, and nesting may continue into September. Maxi mum production occurs in years when the majority of early nests are successful, since the number of eggs per nest decreases in later nest attempts.
During the courtship and early nesting periods, quail find their food supply on the increase. Snow-free ground in April makes the previous year's seed supply available. Sprouting green vegetation is a preferred food at this time. As agricultural ground is worked, fewer seeds are available, but by mid-May, insects begin to emerge in sufficient numbers to provide a good food source for the nesting birds As the season progresses, the quail's die is primarily insects, greens and berries.
In June, the first bobwhite chick hatch, although the peak hatching period is usually around the end of June. The female broods the newly hatched chick about the size of bumblebees the nest, and when all are completely dry they leave the nest never to return. Alone with the male, they move into surrounding cover. The first several days of the chick's life are spent searching for food when the weather is favorable, or seeking protection from heat, cold and rain under the warm breast feathers of the adults.
Young quail are especially susceptible to cold and moisture, and rain takes it toll, as do predation, stress and disease Approximately 80 percent of the chick do not survive to the next nesting season
Young quail grow rapidly, and in about two weeks, their soft, yellow and black natal down is replaced by juvenile feathers. At eight weeks, the first adult feathers begin to show on the breast. By 13 weeks, adult plumage is dominant, at 15 weeks, adult plumage extends over the whole body. A chick weighs 0.2 ounces when hatched, and its weight double about every 10 days for the first five weeks. Sometime between eight and 10 weeks, a chick will have gained half its adult weight of about 6.8 ounces.
For the first two weeks, the brood spends most of its time under the protection of the adults, except for short periods of feeding. Immediately upon hatching, the chicks' feeding behavior is similar to that of the adults. They scratch in the soil, picking up insects and small seeds left from the previous fall. At one week, their wing development allows them to fly in short hops or make short flights upward to catch insects or escape predators.
Young quail depend on their parents for protection until they are five weeks old. From then on, the young rely on the adults mainly for warnings of danger from predators. The brood roosts huddled together at night, yet the birds act individually when danger arises, flushing singly and scattering in every direction. As the young mature, they begin to function more as a unit, flushing together and taking the same flight path when danger is near. Their key to survival is this ability to act as a unit.
Young broods need feeding cover that allows them to move without being detected by predators, but does not trap the small, flightless quail in pockets of vegetation. Adults prefer this type of cover also. Mixtures of early successional plants (many of them often considered weeds) such as kochia (fireweed), ragweed and sweet clover, along with a grass such as foxtail, provide this type of cover. Dense grass cover with litter accumulation such as in older Conservation Reserve Program fields is not good quail brood habitat.
By September and October, most of the young birds are no longer dependent upon their parents for survival. Food and cover are plentiful, and the young birds begin to wander. Adults fight among a themselves, and a reorganization of coveys occurs. This movement is called the fall shuffle. It was once thought that 'all coveys were family units, but this is not entirely true. Some late broods might still be together in November, but by then most coveys are composed of young birds 'rom several different broods, as well adults. Pairs sometimes split, each individual joining a different covey.
By November, quail have settled into coveys, and their home range is fairly well established around cover that will satisfy their winter needs. In agricultural areas, this range is normally associated with woody or brushy cover for protection from predators and winter storms, a grassed area for roosting and a corn or milo field for food. The quality and proximity of these cover types determines the number of birds an area can support.
During the fall and winter months, as normal mortality reduces the size of coveys, reshuffling occurs. A covey reduced to fewer than six or eight birds will merge with another covey. Even though the total population may be greatly reduced, average covey size changes very little during this period.
|
|
