012922. MuskogeeEdition, Birding Today

https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/lifestyles/birding-today-genetics-play-role-in-birds-health/article_4354f0e9-3f9e-589b-a821-1187c8868890.html 

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Northern Bobwhite

The rotund, chicken-like Northern Bobwhite, or Bobwhite Quail, is an uncommon and declining species in many parts of the country, classified as endangered.  This reduction is due to the fact that agricultural lands, which the bird favors, are also in the same state of affairs.  A flocking species, males will sing from a low perch.  If disturbed, the species will all flush together, similar to the habits of the Ring-necked Pheasant.

There are several related kin, including the Eastern, Great Plains, Masked, and Florida subspecies, noticeable differences in the adult males.

These birds, as breeders, enjoy a diverse cover which includes woodlands with a brushy understory, cover crops in the agricultural off-season, including grassy nesting cover, and cultivated crop areas with a food source, dusting areas similar to Wild Turkey habits, and a source of water.

                                                           Male Northern Bobwhite,
                                                     Great Plains and Texas subspecies
                                             Photographed in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Bobwhites can sometimes breed quite early for their age, depending upon adequate conditions.  Young and their parents stay together even after the young are old enough to carry on without them, and coveys are formed by non-breeding birds.  Six birds are needed to form their circular roosting formations, which is natural for them both for the conservation of heat and for predator watch.

The diet is usually vegetable, seeds of undesirable weeds, especially ragweed, corn, acorns, sunflowers, and a number of other items.  This bird is indispensable to farmers, as it picks up its food solely by scavenging many seeds of weeds.  It also consumes its share of animals like the grasshopper, snails, locusts, slugs, and several others.  It requires grit to be used as a digestion aid.

The biggest enemy of this bird is pesticide related, and the change in agricultural diversity, which causes destruction of its habitat.  It has the same predator problem as most ground nesters, which includes rats, raccoons, domestic animals, snakes, and several others.

                                                              Female Northern Bobwhite,
                                                          Great Plains and Texas subspecies
                                                  Photographed in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas

The population has been declining, and an important help to the Masked Bobwhite has been the work of the Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville, OK.   They have been raising chicks from the egg and relocating them to Southeast Arizona and New Mexico.  Their decline was caused by cattle grazing practices, as fodder was unable to regenerate quickly enough.  More than once, they were extirpated from their natural habitat, so several breeding facilities were brought on board by US Fish and Wildlife.  Our Oklahoma facility is one of many trying to save this important and valued grassland bird, where it will never be forgotten.

                                                                 Masked Bobwhite
                                                     Photographed in Southeast Arizona

The Northern Bobwhite hybridizes with the Scaled Quail in Kansas and Texas.

Birding On a Shoestring: The Wilds of Arizona, Part 4

                                                                  Abert's Towhee

                                                              Male Summer Tanager

                                                           Broad-tailed Hummingbird

                                                                        Lizard

                                                                  Lesser Goldfinch

                                                               Violet-Green Swallow

                                                                  Spotted Towhee

                                                              Common Black Hawk

                                                   Rivoli's( Magnificent) Hummingbird

                                                                  Hermit Thrush

                                                             Anna's Hummingbird

                                                               Rufous Hummingbird

                                                                   Red Skimmer

                                                             Male Masked Bobwhite

                                                Northern Cardinal (Southwest Subspecies)

                                                               Male Western Tanager

                                                                         Iguana

                                                              Female Bighorn Sheep

                                                               Curve-billed Thrasher

                                                             Black-throated Sparrow

                                                                     Brown Creeper

                                                                  Common Raven


04-23 through 04-27-18

Abert's Towhee is common in dense riparian brush and the male Scarlet Tanager is common in mixed and coniferous woods, feeding in the upper level of trees and usually solitary.

The Broad-tailed Hummingbird is common in dry montane coniferous woods with openings like meadows and thickets of willows, which are common in the area where the photo was taken in Santa Cruz County, the most southern of southeast Arizona.

Lesser Goldfinch are residents and are found in patchy open habitat, like wood edges and riparian thickets.

Violet-Green Swallows are common summer residents, nesting in cliff faces and tree cavities in open areas.

The Spotted Towhee, also a resident, usually stays under cover and enjoys brushy undergrowth within forests and sunny clearings.  It is a denizen of leaf litter, found scratching about for insects and seeds.

Common Black Hawks are rare and local located within mature cottonwood forests near streams.  Hunting from a perch, their favorite food are snakes, frogs, and rodents.

The Magnificent Hummingbird is uncommon in montane pine-oak forests, is somewhat large, and favors flowers and feeders.

Hermit Thrush is a resident and common in the brushy understory of forests, usually in drier and brushier habitat than most other thrushes.  It is seen all over the country in winter.  It is distinguished by a narrow white eyering and has a contrasting reddish tail.

Anna's Hummingbird is one of the most common hummingbirds with the oak-chapparal habitat.

Rufous Hummingbird is common, nesting within open coniferous forest and riparian woods.  These migrants are common in mountain meadows and is a small and compact bird with short wings.

The Masked Northern Bobwhite is very rare and local in the grasslands of southern Arizona.

The Black-th®mated Sparrow is common in arid desert scrub and sparse shrubby vegetation with patches of open ground.

The Curve-billed Thrasher is a resident, common in desert scrub and dense brushy woodlands with open areas. It forages on the ground, tossing leaf litter about to expose insects.

This Common Raven was found in a picnic area protecting small birds from feral cats when located.  Upon arrival and discovery of the cats, they were kept at bay, while the raven looked on from the sky.

This female bighorn sheep was an amiable sort and enjoyed having her photo taken.