HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 24, 1963 - Bobwhite QuailBobwhite ,quail
Exclusive Sunday Review sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven
Focus on Nature by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue
The last article Judd Bennett
wrote for this column was on
Winter Beaches and I have been
after him ever since to continue
good work. Today I am
pleased to introduce him again
as he writes on the Quail who
visit his feeder daily.
GUEST WRITER
JUDD BENNETT
The plump little quail living in
the fie ld th'I kets and t h i n n e d
woods are those we call Bob-
white. He gave himselif t h a t name.
I Iike to feel I am yet another
admirer of the alert American
Indian for his direct approach
to all things living, long ago
he made the voice of t he quail,
so clearly whistled as call notes,
into the human sound of words.
A better name c o u l d hardily
be found. Those now be- ginn]
ng as observers and newly aware
of the wonders of outdoors, parttctrlardy
the younger impat- ient
naturalists, must be m!ghtily cheered
on by such refreshing good
sense. Other
having given "mes- sages"
to the Indians directly are quite
a few, the ranks led by the Chickadees
followed closely by Whippoor
wills, Killdeer and o
t h err s including the Phoebes. They
all say over and over their own
name. But painless learing is always
a short bit of luck. Other observations
worth t h e troube
are endless with facina- tion. Bobwhite males
are
strikingly marked with a,
distinctly ind vi'2- ua'.ized head -
pattern which is c(- ten used helpfully
to rapidly de- scr:be other
lesser known birds, marked in a
like way. "The quailAike" head has
become a s'.an'.,'.ar
standard like "r o b i n size ", "crow shape"
and "war - bler-like." It
takes little to ad- m: -re the
pert beautifiuLy adored and patterned Bof!
rmh!te. He is s i tu
p Il y one dandy little wild bantamal:ke" creature
fashioned so wonderfully to
be of the type youngsters pane to
own. Some of those who pine
are not so young. Ai11 winter tong
I see. a covey as they come
for corn ch :ps. The Wme lights of
dawn have b u t barely gone before
the silent said - in. on cui
aped wings, from over the trees comes
or the head -down secret dash from
the dark wood- Rand brings my
family in f or breakfast. The birds
of this covey numbered 111 in
October with one by one less
over the weeks.. when winter deepened and. -
d a n g e r s slow :y took
to sul tfaction until only eight were
tii P make it;. Each year almost
repeats itself. Rough and brutal
snow - logged tunes brings, to
join, two neigh- bor covey. Tlrtey
can be spotted by the nigA
and left limnpers in each. Their feet
have been frost - bitten. They also
act less at hoarse. No familiar
Bobwhite calls stow, only faint
intimate family pluc kings, .basely
audiMe. The farm :iar
cheery musically whistled, calls are
S pr i n g and Summer delights. They
declare Ue home area
of a mated pair. When heard, nearby
a ibreeding mare has settled
down with his ohunky devoted companion.
Their way of living
dtur:.ng this balany season is of
interest. They live as simple ground dwellers.
Most birds living with
their feet on the earth have
similar traits which are always
efficient and he'ipfu!1.
They are a'd, as well as the Bcbw'hite,
genera y runners, adept at saifety-
dashes, good fliers, efMotive at '
blurr -s p e e d escapes and, fine
dat'gent s_match- ers. Chicken -like,
quail eat at ground level as
the barnyarders do for tthes
woui'd be ordinary for walking birds. Bobwhite
w a I k and walk all
the day long starting out in that
fast blue gl :mmer. They snake the
rounds. The seeds found have dropped
from plants called beggarweed, partridge
pea, sedges, numberless grasses, ]
es- pedeza and acorn -
bearing trees. They swift :y
gobble up, in t'heiir funny pick pick
p:,ck way, glisten- ing ground beetles,
grasshoppers and the dear
o :d crickets. Bobwhite covey are
anode up in the Faal
and broken up in the Spring. A covey
is more or less one family at
the b e g i n n i n g. Aunts, unc'.es,
cousins and wan- dering strangers join
untid t h e number gets Grose
to a dozen and a thalf.
They then live as in- separable buddies. They
actua :t!y like each other.
Perhaps that is why we do
too. I am not thinking of a pat
pie. There are members b e i
n g "scouts" out a r e a d, guards" waking the
flanks," leaders" leading, "adarm
sound- ers" ica,lling
out — "come back quickly, you! ". The
covey is •a we+ :d organ.
zed mutually protec- tive gathering. Stragglers
a r e ca5ied back by
a cried plea that soon: s Tike — "
ka loi -kee" as a question and the
answering bird sounds as if
he'd whistled "wboll- kee! Where are
those Indians? When food is
thick they feed eagerCy w.5'
ih wings touching. During colder spel:
ils the feathers are puffed out
over the feet as they squat for
warmth still pick pack pi&*ng
without pause. Steep- ing is side
by sole on the ground in a tight
circle w5th everybody facing outward. They
are poised four instant, and
I mean instant, take o6f. The
first great 'burst of the "sprang -out"
sets each bird up into the air
free of the wings of the others.
Pobw'hite wings are_ s h o
r t, small-!sh and d i s c i not ly dowwicurved, powerful,
as are the strohg (legs
and feet. A loud thritdimg whirring sound
is pro- duced by the
wingbeats f u l l y speeded up for
escape. =If one is right on the
spot this is a startling moment of intense
action. Every - thing is "befuddle"
in a flesh. I think the
Fox even shutters briefly. The assembtdng
of
the covey is a lmixup
known as t!he "Fait Shuftile" and the
mcxup extends to die "Spring
Breakup ". The breakup is a
sign of w i n t e r ending. The scattering
is gradual with pairs just
casually strolling off -to wander
into courtship and worse. On pairing
the
hen and the cock are inseparable. The
important next site is
sought 'as the hen leads as, normal:
y, she often does anyway. Both work
on the nest seildom far from
old paths, the remoter small roads
and shell - tered clearings. It
is tucked ex- pertly in under
overhang alll left untouched. Partly covered
as they are discovery,
de'lcberately, is d:fficu!
t. The last 'bit in place the hen beg'
iris laying. Fourteen pure wh
to eggs are a cluill-h
good enough. The hen spends on'y
a moment to lay and quickly rejoins the
mule standing in wait. T`
te 'last egg in place incubation begins. Twenty
three days
later they have a nest
filled with the most appealing c h
i c k s imaginable. They match the
en:7aaring won- der in the
dark., or "wild :ings" those maci ,?aTy
chin:rng into the care of free
wildfowl, from the eggs of duck.
A:'1 of these babies have an irrepressible
a p p e a l heart - warming and
wonderful. The cook Bobwhite
w, d coan- plete the thatching •
shou:'.d the hen lose her Life.
I f she lives she does it a :
one. The t'me is June and July, normally,
but they wild renest until October.
Each year on ?y one
brood is raised and, even if but one
egg hatuhles the in- stinct is satisfied
for the year. Too much main
is Chad. Hot dry days can possibly ,
raise ground heat enough to
kilo embroyes. Nesting Bobwhite have
natural enem es the
worst, in' order, are the skunks, rats,
snakes and ,yes, ants. Loses so
feit, 'being natural, axe not, mepea.
t are not, impor- tant as is
so often believed. But, you may think
of the added loses from man are
and be correct. The Bobwhite Cke'
others con. sidered gash -a,
such as the Dove, Squirrel and the
Rabbit a'.d 'have, from natural controls,
a h i g h population turnover. For
quail 20 out of 100
survive everything. The Bobwh,'te
is an Eastern native and is
the en'y one around here the three:.
lcies in the counA. You carir
tot cabl him a partxii e. +. ' Our
mil areiismroadd
and weigh but ounce's
plus. This 'little nine iIh, short;
well. fea- ther ec$ ,s
p e e d s t e r can barrel through the air,
just short of 50 m i '1
e s per ' when real :y bent on goiM They''car,
became a little tame. These beautiful
birds
have re- iccavered d1owl,y
from a s e r i o u s low. On Long
Island they are not as scarce as
they once were but still a-re
far from. common. When Bobnvihite are a
g a i n at home everywhere and whistling
the be- loved "ah bob
wh!,te" the I will once more :'
rave the so thrii :i :;imgdy,
harken nvg back to of youth and
Indians. FIELD OBSERVATIONS Marion
Edwards Reports:
East Hampton =- Mar
28 House Finch Laurence
Ernest reports:
Mecox — March to
Pintails Canvasback Shinneoock —
March
11
Brant (about 900}
Piping Plover (3)
Mergansers (2} Bill
Young, Richard
F o s K ^nny Power;
reports: East Marion — March
16