Friday, February 11, 2011

Bobwhite Quail - Seen any Recently?


I don't think of myself as necessarily old. But I've seen wild quail just a stones throw south of I-70 in Ohio in my life. So that makes me old enough to remember the winters of 1977-78. Which makes my not exactly young. And I haven't seen a wild quail around here since then.

So I'm glad to see that Ohio DNR is taking steps to reintroduce our native little gentlemen.

Effort to bring more quail to area under way by Jim Morris.

I've kept quail in a johnny house for dog training. Some of the birds escape or don't recall to the pen. I've had neighbors report seeing those birds later, but I haven't seen evidence of a wild quail this far north. Hopefully the habitat is in place that the birds can make a go of it again.

If you have some land and are interested, there are several habitat workshops coming up:

Feb. 19: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hueston Woods State Park, 6301 Park Office Road, College Corner.
Feb. 23: 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Young’s Dairy Farm Golden Jersey Inn, 6880 Springfield-Xenia Road, Yellow Springs.
March 1: 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Ross County Service Center, 475 Western Ave., Chillicothe.
March 5: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Donald Geer farm, 10700 Ohio 73, New Vienna.
March 7: 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at the Urbana Service Center, 1512 South U.S. 68, Urbana.

The workshops are open to anyone interested in learning about bobwhite quail, wildlife habitat management or cropland conservation.

Saturday workshops will include a short afternoon fieldtrip to a quail management area. Be prepared to go outside.
For more information, visit wildohio.com or call (937) 372-9261.

Photo courtesy of hutch4434 on flickr.

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