Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bobwhite Quail


After hearing the call of the chuck-will's-widow this morning, this afternoon I am hearing the distinctive call of a bobwhite quail: bobWHITE, bobWHITE.

According to information on the Audubon Society's Common Birds in Decline web site, the northern bobwhite—the species we have here in Florida, even though the word "northern" can be confusing in this case—is one of the 20 common North American birds with the greatest population declines since 1967.

Like many creatures throughout the world, the bobwhite is struggling because of habitat loss—so much so that the population of this species has declined 82 percent in the last 40 years! That's a stunning loss.

I hate to think that a year may come when I will not hear "bobWHITE, bobWHITE." Fortunately, the Audubon Society has good information for people who are interested in helping the bobwhite and the other 19 birds on this particular list of threatened species.

The images above are from the Audubon Society.

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