|
Roadies at RPQRR by Dr. Dean Ransom Jr. The Greater Roadrunner is a common, indeed iconic, bird of southwestern rangelands. Easily recognized by most people, the bird is at home in a variety of habitats, including rural and some suburban environments. Although many people enjoy watching the antics of this bird, and usually have a personal anecdote to tell, most would be surprised to know that the ecology and biology of the Roadrunner is poorly understood. This is surprising given the bird is a ground dwelling meso-predator that fills a unique niche in its environment- there are no other North American predatory birds that have adopted a ground dwelling lifestyle.
I continue the roadrunner research in my work with the RPQRR, which will soon incorporate a graduate student to help carry the research load. The RPQRR is quite different from the Vernon study site, being more contiguous, with a more open savanna like vegetative structure, which should result in different behaviors of roadrunners in this environment and add to our knowledge of roadrunner ecology. I will continue to monitor home range, habitat selection and nesting ecology, but will begin a focus on winter and the effect cold weather and reduced food availability have on roadrunners. Cadence call (Conservation cadences from the Bobwhite Brigade)
Operation Pulse by Dr. Dale Rollins The EMT immediately grabs the wrist of the prostrate victim to sense whether there is a pulse-then breathes a sigh of relief. There IS a pulse, weak though it may be. She knows there is at least a chance the patient can recover.Quail populations are much like that unconscious patient. Many ranchers and quail hunters believe their quail numbers are at their lowest ebb since 1984. Is there still a "quail pulse" on your property or lease, and can the "patient" be revived? The best way to find out is just around the corner, when amorous bobwhites ring out their "poor-bob-white" whistles.
Operation Pulse is an attempt to document the presence and relative Counts should be conducted during the last half of May, which is about the peak date for calling across most of Texas. More details on protocols and data sheets will be available by April 15 at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch's website (www.quailresearch.org). No one will be more anxious for the bobwhites to start their iconic song than I. I hope their song resounds like a Rogers and Hammerstein musical-"the hills are alive with the sound of music!" When analyzing whistle counts, I think in multiples of "3." If your average count finds less than 3 whistling cocks per stop, you're in the lower quartile; six cocks would be an average property; nine would be above average, and 12 would be exceptional. Now, anytime your counts exceed about 10 cocks calling, you'll be hard-pressed to differentiate among them-but that's a great problem to have! Sometimes it's easier to count the total number of whistles heard and not even try to differentiate among various roosters. Hearing a whistle about every ten seconds would be an average count. Hearing more than 100 bobwhite whistles (one every three seconds) in a five-minute period is excellent. An El Nino weather pattern has blessed most of Texas' quail range with ideal fall-winter moisture, and a resulting green landscape of winter weeds which generally bode well for quail nesting. But the weak link in the quail equation may be the number of breeding birds available. Operation Pulse will be a good way to estimate one's breeding capital.
For those of you in blue quail country (and your anxiety in recent years has been on par with bobwhite hunters), you can use the same protocols, but the song your listening for isn't as glorious. The song of the blue quail is called the "whock" (go to http://teamquail.tamu.edu for an example). Also, blues typically don't call as often as bobwhites, so a count yielding two or three different roosters calling would be a decent count. A basic tenet of farming is that "the best fertilizer is the footprint of the farmer." As a student of quail, I carry in my pocket my "silver bullet" -a silver medallion given to me by the QuailMasters 2005 class, inscribed with the Chinese proverb (and motto of the Bobwhite Brigade): "Tell me and I forget. Show me I remember. Involve me and I understand." Operation Pulse is an invitation to get involved with quail matters in your neck of the woods. Operation Pulse is sponsored by Texas AgriLIFE Extension Service's Quail Decline Initiative, Park Cities Quail, Bobwhite Brigade, QuailMasters, Texas Wildlife Association, Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas Audubon and other conservation partners . The perfect count team would involve a representative of all of the above, plus interested landowners. Remember that younger ears will likely yield higher counts than those dulled by repeated shotgun blasts and blaring dog whistles. To get involved, e-mail me at d-rollins@tamu.edu. I might know some other students of quail who would be interested riding along with you. If you have an opportunity to involve the local media, what better opportunity to share your concern with quail happenings to the non-hunting public? Remember that as bobwhite numbers go, so go a whole suite of other grassland-nesting songbirds. I'll be listening very intently at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch located 11 miles west of Roby. Ring it out Mr. Bob! Bobwhite Brigade needs “chicks” by Dr. Dale Rollins
In the News Park Cities Quail banquet set for March 11 Park Cities Quail (www.parkcitiesquail.org) held its fourth annual banquet and fund raiser on March 11 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas. Dallas businessman Bob Carter was recognized as the 2010 recipient of the 2010 T. Boone Pickens Lifetime Sportsman Award. Carter owns the Circle J&B Ranch in Baylor County and has been a lifelong student of quail. PCQ has literally been the economic wind under the RPQRR's wings over the past three years. The PCQ has donated right at $1 million to fund the RPQRR's annual operating budget, and early projections indicated that figure may grow by another $400,000 after this fundraiser. The RPQRR is both grateful, and humbled, to be the recipient of their generosity. Cryptosporidium infection in quail from RPQRR In our pledge to "leave no stone unturned", RPQRR has been collaborating with scientists at TAMU's College of Veterinary Medicine to evaluate the role of diseases and micro-parasites in quail population abundance. Dr. Guan Zhu, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, analyzed fecal samples of quail trapped at RPQRR last Oct-Nov for the presence of protozoan parasites, most namely Eimeria (which causes coccidiosis) and Crytosporidia (which causes cryptosporidiosis). Recently, he provided this update on their findings. "We used a PCR-based protocol to detect Cryptosporidium from quail fecal samples collected in the winter season in 2009. Our preliminary testing identified 22 positive samples from a total number of 50 samples. However, because each sample may contain feces from a varied number of birds trapped in the same cage (mostly ranging from 1 to 10 birds per sample), these samples are considered as pooled specimens. True infection rate cannot be calculated directly from the data obtained from pooled specimens, because in each positive sample with feces from multiple birds, it is possible that only one or two birds are positive. Using a model designed to account for pooled specimens, the infection rate obtained is 19% (95% confidence interval = 13.2-26.4%). The present protocol cannot differentiate different Cryptosporidium species. Additionally, we have also observed larger PCR products from several samples, which may be indicative of infection with other related parasites. The data are preliminary. We are also testing several new sets of primers that may be used to distinguish infections by Cryptosporidium and Eimeria species. We hope to obtain more defined data in the near future." RPQRR Research Partners As part of RPQRR's "Eastern Range Initiative", we initiated a project called "Research Partners" last October. To date, we have four partners who have signed on (in alphabetical order):
Dr. Dean Ransom heads up the RP effort from this end; he works with these landowners to assess baseline population status, implement best management practices (BMPs), then designs a monitoring protocol to evaluate the efforts' progress. Landowners are assessed an annual fee and are also responsible for any direct costs for implementing the BMPs. We are accepting additional ranches to become RPs, both on the "eastern" and "western" fronts (i.e., bobwhites and blues). For more information, contact Dr. Ransom at rdransom@ag.tamu.edu. RPQRR to host Fire Appreciation Day
Plan to join us on April 30 for the first-ever "Fire Appreciation Day" at the Filaree trumps alfalfa in nutrients
Our August burns resulted in a carpet of filaree (both California and Texas RPQRR now on Facebook & Twitter! You can keep up with real time happenings at RPQRR now on Facebook and Twitter. Go to http://www.facebook.com/RPQRR or follow us Twitter @ www.twitter.com/rpqrr. I have tasked my staff with providing lastest news and happens as they happen each week. No Facebook or Twitter account is required to access these daily posts. Also check out other resources @ www.quailresearch.org Plant of the Month Broomweed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides)
Aside from the filaree bonanza, my eyes turn next to looking for broomweed seedlings. I haven't seen any yet, but Paul Melton, chairman of RPQRR's Several years ago at Bobwhite Brigade I scripted a "Pledge to Broomweed"; it's recited every summer as cadets hold a broomweed over their head as: "I pledge allegiance to common broomweed, and to the cover for which it provides. One canopy over head, continuous, providing usable space for quail." For more information on broomweed, see http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=AMDR. |
April 2010 Vol 2. No. 4
Q: We used to have large numbers of quail in our area and they also have dwindled to the point we need to change the name of our farm from Quail Hill to something else more meaningful. We used to have Bobwhites and Blues and now only a few Blues. Are quail populations a response to their immediate habitat or to a much greater grouping of events? PT – Tucumcari, NM A: Great question PT. If it’s the former, then quail should respond to our mantra of “habitat, habitat, habitat”, i.e., “if you build it they will come.” However, if the latter situation rules, i.e., there are larger gremlins at work, then there are no guarantees of success. Surely we recognize some of these larger forces, e.g., weather patterns, habitat fragmentation (and whatever evils it portends). From the habitat perspective, the larger the “footprint” we can impact, the better the odds of sustaining quail populations into the future—hence a landscape approach is touted. But over much of west Texas, and I suspect eastern New Mexico, habitat “loss” or “change” is more difficult to pinpoint than areas further east. So, for the time being, I’m confessing such declines are “idiopathic”, i.e., “the doctor don’t know.” At least this one doesn’t! Stay tuned for a discussion of various hypotheses related to “quail decline” in the May issue of e-Quail.
From time to time, a weird looking quail shows up in the harvest. For example, take this one harvested in late-February near Hebbronville. [Click Here] to see photo. For lack of a better term, I call it a “creamy quail” owing to its aberrant plumage. I saw one about 20 years ago taken near Wellington that was even more creamy than this one; if I can find my picture of it, I’ll feature it in a future issue. If you have pictures of weird quail, and don’t mind sharing them, please send them to me at d-rollins@tamu.edu.
What do you think are the top five seeds for quail on your lease or property? Sorry, milo and corn don’t count! To participate, [Click Here].
Relative to the melodious, yea sexy, song of the bobwhite (i.e., “poor-bob-white”), the song of the blue quail would never cut the mustard on American Idol. The blue’s song is a nasally “whock”, you can hear my rendition of it at http://teamquail.tamu.edu The Desert QuailMasters class will hold their first session April 25-27 in Midland and will be listening attentively for some “blues music.” For more information about the Desert QuailMasters course, see http://texas-wildlife.org
21 . . . that’s the largest number of eggs we’ve found In a nest thus far at RPQRR. That nest was discovered in the Deuce pasture last June in a clump of Caucasian bluestem. The average clutch size for bobwhites is about 13 eggs.
That’s “meanwhile back at the ranch.” April has us preparing food plots, conducting vegetation measurements on various burned areas, winding up our spring trapping session, and monitoring radiomarked quail. The bobwhites should begin whistling in about two weeks at our latitude, which marks the dispersal of coveys.
If you received this from a friend, [Click Here] to sign up for the RPQRR e-Quail Newletters!  |
I began research on the Roadrunner while working as a research scientist for Agrilife Research in Vernon, TX. That project ran from 2006-2009, and revealed a few interesting observations. First, both male and female roadrunners have relatively large home ranges, on average about 300 acres. Young of the year roadrunners are capable of long distance dispersal, up to 6 miles away from their nest, but their survival is very low. In contrast, adult roadrunners exhibit relatively high survival, and seem to remain in their home range over time. In 2009, we monitored nests with digital cameras to document what the parents were feeding their young. Grasshoppers and Texas horned lizards were fed most frequently to nestling roadrunners, along with other lizards, snakes, rodents, and spiders less frequently. No birds were observed being fed to nestling roadrunners.
abundance of quail across Texas. It's not rocket science. You, and several buddies, drive along your property (or less-traveled county roads) and stop at one-mile intervals. You step outside the vehicle and listen for the number of different bobwhites heard whistling during a five-minute period. Then you move on to the next stop, until you've made a minimum of six stops.
Participants are encouraged to report their data to me via e-mail so we can summarize trends from across the state. Results will be posted at our website on a county-basis, so your data will remain anonymous.
The application deadline for this summer's Bobwhite Brigade Wildlife Leadership Camps ends today (April 1), but our "bag" is far from full. We need an additional ten cadets (or so) for both the Rolling Plains and South Texas Bobwhite Brigades. If you have a child, or grandchild, who would be interested in attending, please have them check out the website (
Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch . We've burned in just about every month of the year in search of the optimal time to promote quail habitat, but you'll also see responses that will make deer and livestock operators downright giddy. We have some pretty impressive vegetation responses to show how season of burns affects plant community response. A copy of the news release with more information is available at 
species). A "filaree year" bodes well for reproduction this summer. I've seen blue quail near Ft. Stockton replete with crop fat and nothing but filaree greens in their crops. So, I asked Kent Mills, nutritionist for Hi-Pro Feeds and a member of RPQRR's advisory committee, to have a sample of the filaree analyzed. Mills submitted a sample of California filaree on March 10. Results showed it contained 33.3% crude protein on a dry-matter basis; TDN (a measure of its digestibility) was 68%. By comparison alfalfa in the bud stage is about 22% CP and 65% TDN. The filaree sample was also higher in Ca (1.93%) and P (0.51%) than alfalfa (1.3 and 0.3%, respectively for Ca and P).
advisory committee, reported seeing some by mid-March. I often champion broomweed (much to the disdain of my range colleagues!) as a heral for a good quail year. A canopy of broomweed in October becomes a "golden parachute" for bobwhites, transforming even quite open landscapes into usable space. And, while its seeds are tiny (Photo credit photo as "Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database"), they often gorge the crops of bobwhites during "broomweed years." Broomweed likes wet falls, and we've had one, so I'm hopeful some of our burns will be a golden spread for quail this fall.