It is more than habitat loss -- areas that have not changed significantly, e.g. state and national parklands, wildlife refuges etc. have also lost their quail. In the 1980s when I did the first Atlas, my blocks had Bobwhite persisting in many fragmented and marginal areas. In fact as recently as the early 1990s I saw a covey of Bobwhite feeding on the lawn of the Trolley Museum (where in the 1980s they were a common sight and sound in the adjoining upper NW Branch Park).

It is certainly reasonable to suspect that a number of factors are at work synergistically to bring the species to its knees. Habitat loss to be sure, but other factors have also been suggested:

1) disease, possibly brought in by translocation of birds for stocking or field trial purposes. And what about West Nile, which has been linked to increased mortality of Sage Grouse?
2) loss of genetic diversity as populations have become fragmented, making them more vulnerable to environmental and other stresses. The release of large number of cage-bred birds, which are apt to lack genetic diversity, if these breed with wild stocks, can also be damaging.
3) introduction of  other physiological races, e.g. birds whose physiology is more adapted to southern climates, again if these are found to breed into native stocks.

All of these problems have been identified in the management of trout and salmon fisheries, one reason that many state fish and game departments have moved away from stocking hatchery fish "over" wild stocks. However I have no idea if any of these factors have ever been positively linked to declines in quail. But worth investigating...

Gail Mackiernan
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Matthew Grey <>
> I can say that in the several years that I have been birding the heck out of the 
> northern half of Anne Arundel County that I have seen Bobwhite almost totally 
> disappear.  
> 
>