Impacts of predation on northern bobwhite and scaled quail

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and scaled quail (Callipepla squama ta) populations have declined throughout most of their distribution, and th ese declines have become more dramatic in recent years. In this review, we examine the role of predation in quail management. Predation is the major s ource of nest loss and of mortality for young and adult quail. Mean nest su ccess across studies reviewed was 28%. Estimates of annual survival rates h ave varied from 5 to 26% for radiotelemetry studies and from 15 to 30% base d on age-ratio studies. Breeding season survival estimates ranged from 13 t o 51% in telemetry studies reviewed. Brood survival is the least studied as pect of quail survival; estimates ranged from 13 to 47%. Mammalian predator s most often implicated in nest predation include striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), raccoons (Procyon lotor), opossums (Didelphis virginianus), foxe s (Urocyon cinereoargenteus and Vulpes vulpes), coyotes (Canis latrans), an d feral hogs (Sus scrofa). Accipiters (Accipiter spp.) and northern harrier s (Circus cyaneus) are the most common avian predators of quail. Less infor mation is available to assess impact of predation on scaled quail, but obse rvations from areas where bobwhites and scaled quail are sympatric suggeste d that scaled quail are less vulnerable to predation than bobwhites. Althou gh quail have adapted to cope with high predation rates (e.g., renesting, l arge clutches), populations in some areas may be suppressed by predation. C hanges in land use, management practices, and predator communities interact to depress quail populations over much of the bobwhite's range. Additional studies are needed to assess the role of predation and predation managemen t in Light of these landscape-level changes. A variation of the Integrated Pest Management philosophy used in crop production is proposed as an approp riate model to address predation management for quail.