Bird
of the month
Bobwhite
numbers decline as habitat disappears
By
Lorraine
McFarland
Twelve
years ago, when my husband and I purchased our property, we were
delighted to hear the familiar two- or three-note whistle of the
Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus, (an
ascending “bob bob WHITE” or “bob WHITE” you can hear the online
at www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/audio/Northern_Bobwhite.html)
in the small field across the road which consisted of warm season
grasses mixed with shrubs and widely spaced trees – their preferred
habitat. I remember one winter morning when I flushed a covey of 17
bobwhites from underneath my mock orange bush. Now, those calls and
close encounters are very rare indeed.
On
June 14 of this year National Audubon released the results of a study
under the headline “Common Birds in Decline”. Topping the list of 20
birds that have suffered precipitous declines in the last 40 years is
the Northern Bobwhite. I chose
this species this month to emphasize the importance of citizen science
programs like the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and Breeding Bird Survey
(BBS); the data from these counts is where the important information in
the Audubon study comes from.
Bobwhites
are heavy-bodied birds with small heads and short necks and tails. They
are about 10 inches beak tip to tail and have easily identifiable
reddish and gray plumage. The throat is pale. The male has a white
stripe above the eye; the female has a buff-colored eyestripe. You will
see them running quickly along the ground more often than in flight.
After mating, the male and female are inseparable. They build a nest on
the ground, often with an arch of woven grasses and weeds to conceal it.
A clutch averages 12 to 16 dull white eggs, but some nests have up to
28! After incubation of about 24 days the hatchlings are precocial
- covered with downy feathers, eyes open, and able to follow
parents around to find seeds and insects right away.
We,
as citizen scientists, have done a wonderful job for over 100 years of
the CBC and 39 years of the BBS in collecting the data revealing the
Bobwhites’ decline. Now we must pay attention to what it is telling us
about loss of habitat and other causes. Here in the Missouri Ozarks the
Northern Bobwhite is like a “canary in the coal mine”. I challenge
you, readers and citizen scientists, bird watchers and hunters to
educate yourselves about how you can help. You can start at the National
Audubon website www.audubon.org; click on Issues and Action and
help bring the lovely sound of the Bobwhite’s call back to the Ozarks.
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