Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 21:40:28 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Frederick W. Fallon" Subject: Re: Quail MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Gail Mackiernan wrote: > > Hi -- > > the trials and tribulations of the release program, which at first was > notably *unsuccessful*, with almost complete mortality of released birds > despite their having been kept in outside pens, with access to native plants > and food, for a long period before release. The major cause of mortality was > predation and general lack of survival skills. > > It was not until they began to release young birds with older, wild-caught > (and sterilized) adult Common Bobwhite that the program became successful. > The older birds soon taught the youngsters how to avoid predators and other > tricks of survival. > > > I would think just raising quail and turning them loose wouldn't be very > successful here either, with the number of predators and other hazards > about. > > Gail Mackiernan > Colesville, MD > This is to second Gail's thoughts on the subject. Unfortunately, release of pen-reared quail is still quite legal in MD, and indeed state agencies have even had a hand in it at times. The result has been to depress, not raise, populations in MD. Why? Because the eggs which are sold here to be incubated for later release are produced in the southern states, where the quail gene pool is totally unsuited for conditions here. The problem is further compounded by pen-rearing where no "education" which could at least partly compensate the genetics, takes place. Finally, enough of these released birds do mate with natives to depress the fitness of their progeny, dragging them down as well. The result can be seen in any of the long-term Christmas Counts, or the memories of anyone who lived in the country 40-50 years ago. Fred Fallon Bowie fwfallon@earthlink.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================