Project Summary

This project will look at different summer releases of wild-strain northern bobwhite quail chicks. The two different techniques are rearing in a normal farm operation setting and advanced rearing with chicks imprinted to bobwhite hens and raised in propagation pens. Research with propogation pens have been used with masked bobwhites, gray partridge, prairie-chickens, and many other species. The experiment will test which type of chick rearing is more beneficial to aid in survival and possible reproduction of these chicks. Other factors that will be looked at includes distances from releases to trapped locations, and associations with wild bobwhites in these areas. The second part of the project will focus on fall released northern bobwhites. Fall releases are very common across the southeast where hunting pressure may be greater than wild populations can sustain. Thus, bobwhites are usually released in early fall to increase flight potential and have "wilder" birds to hunt. The project will look at the reproductive ecology of fall released wild-strain bobwhites in the Redhills area of southern Georgia.

Information

• MS candidate