The Northern Bobwhite is
a type of quail. It is a stocky, brown bird with a belly
streaked with white.
Male bobwhites have a
white throat and eyebrow.
Northern Bobwhites live
in a group, called a covey.
They can be found in fields, forest clearings, roadsides,
and farms.
Even though Northern
Bobwhites can fly, they usually walk to get around. They can
also run fast, although they usually fly to get away from
danger.
Bobwhites live here
year-round.
Ohio History
Central
Dan Sudia
The
breeding
season for bobwhites is April to September. During this time
a pair will build a nest out of grass, hidden on the ground
among grasses
and weeds.
Females lay 10 t 15
white eggs, and both parents take turns sitting on
them.
Iowa Deptartment of
Natural Resources
Iowa Deptartment of
Natural Resources
In about three weeks, the young
bobwhites hatch. Parents only care for them the first week. After
that, they must feed themselves. Usually the male watches over the
young, while the female is already sitting on a new nest. Young
Northern Bobwhites can fly two or three weeks after they are
born.
Coveys are formed after breeding
season. A covey may have as many as 25 birds.
Northern Bobwhite eat a wide
variety of foods, including seeds, fruits, plants, insects, and
spiders.
In the Winter, they mostly they
eat plant foods, including: pine seeds, Wild Grape, blackberries,
wild roses, Japanese Honeysuckle, Switchgrass, Flowering Dogwood,
Poison Ivy, sumacs, Sassafras, ragweeds, acorns,
Spotted Jewelweed, Black Locust, Spicebush, crabgrass, Sweetgum,
violets, hickorynuts, sunflowers, thistles, and clovers.
In the Summer, they mostly eat
animals, including: beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars,
spiders, snails, centipedes, isopods, millipedes, and
others.
Northern Bobwhites are very
vulnerable to predators
when they sit on their nests. Large predators may take the parents,
but more often the young are eaten. Predators of bobwhites include:
Raccoon, Red Fox, snakes, owls, hawks, Virginia Opossum, Eastern
Chipmunk, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Common Crow, Blue Jay, Striped
Skunk, Eastern Mole, and Woodchuck. About half of each batch of
chicks will be killed by predators.
Bobwhite parents will somtimes use
the "broken-wing display." They fake an injury and run away from the
nest. The predator, thinking the bird is an easy meal, follows.
Another way bobwhites protect themselves, outside of the breeding
season, is by forming a tight circle with heads pointed outward. This
way a covey can see in all directions.
Northern Bobwhites are
territorial
and coveys will defend an area from other coveys.
Plants that bobwhites often use
for shelter
include: shrubs,
pines, Wild Grape, blackberries, wild roses, honeysuckles,
Switchgrass, Witch Hazel, Flowering Dogwood, and Common
Elderberry.
Bobwhites help to spread many
plants by pooping seeds out in new places.
