Fire ants and Quail in Georgia?

[willkatdawson]

I heard the other day that the reason I don't see or hear any wild quail in our area of Georgia is because of fire ants. They said because they ground nest the young are killed by the ants before they leave the nest. When I was a child every morning you could hear the bob white song and every few days a line of quail would run across the road. I haven't seen one in I bet 25 years.

 

[_Randall_]

How true it is. I don't see how any warm blooded form of life has a chance roaming around on the ground with these pests. Between fire ants and coyotes around here, it's a wonder you can find a wild quail anywhere in the southeast. I can remember very clearly when neither existed.

 

[secretquail]

could be...I grew up in Fla, and we used to have quail around the house, but not so much as I grew older. I guess it could be the ants, however, they were a mainstay throughout my childhood (the ants, that is). The wild populations do fluctuate, and it probably takes a good 10-15 years to start coming back around. Where I am now, coyotes and fox are starting to make a comeback, and we haven't seen many rabbits about in the past few years. It could just be there are some new predators that have made a nice home in your area. Quail are pretty tasty!

 

[aprophet]

a lot of quail not being around is the way most farmers clean farm no hedgerows ditches plowed all the way down to the water I have a coupla wild coveys here where I live. But I am a trapper and I keep the coon fox possum and bobkittys controled for about a 50-60 mile radius . NC is kina hard to get someone to help with fox because the laws are so different from county to county.

 

[tony30536]

i seen one pair last year next to my drive way that's the first ones i have see in a few years, coyote populations are getting out of hand hear when a firetruck goes by with the horns going the coyote start yelping and caring on sounds like hundreds of them , we have fire ants around the house but i guess 1 coyotes 2 food shortage 3 fire ants 4 over hunted in my area, I'm just guessing maybe someone knows and will give us some facts

 

[_Randall_]

The only reason I know there's still a handfull of wild ones left is because when my Bobs call in the pen.....especially late in the afternoon..........the wild (males) come up through the pasture on a knoll, and chat back. But again, they're not plentiful like they were when I was a young'un!!!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I've been told that pouring club soda over a mound at night will kill everything.

I miss hearing the wild bobs. I still have one out in the woods that calls to my hens. The roos flip a hissy fit when he comes in close.

 

[JJMR794]

I doubt fire ants have that much to do with it, but I am sure the migrating coyotes do. Go to coyote country and start making noise with a rabbit squealer od bob white call.... then just sit back and watch the stampede.

Here in Florida we have has the ants since jesus was in diapers--- they have co-existed with the bobs for a long time. However we have just in recent years started seeing coyotes. We still have a good bob population, for now.... As far as coyote population? Well theres a few of us workin on that...

 

[UmbraVulpis]

We have fire ant mounds all over the place, including close to the areas the birds are kept and havn't had a problem so far. I've been meaning to try the club soda treatment but keep forgetting to grab any when we go to a store that has it. The drop in our local quail population seems to correlate with people abandoning dogs or moving in and letting their dogs run the neighborhood. Several came on our property at various times to attack people or kill the goats my dad used to keep. When I started getting livestock I picked up a llama and a donkey and we havn't seen any predators bigger than raccoon since. Now I need to figure out how to keep the raccoons and opossums out.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Red Imported Fire Ants and Their Impacts on Wildlife
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw242
RIFA can completely eliminate ground-nesting birds in a given area. The northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus; Figure 6), an important game species, has been the focus of much research on the impacts of RIFA. RIFA may be one of the reasons for the observed decline in quail numbers in Florida and across much of the southeastern U.S. over the past 10 years. RIFA impact bobwhite quail by stinging and consuming piping young. Even after they hatch, individuals stung by fire ants have reduced survival. In one study, 38% of bobwhite chick deaths were attributed to RIFA stings. If chicks do survive being stung, their growth is often stunted, resulting in a lower body mass. A lower body mass can potentially increase their risk of mortality from other factors such as predation, disease, starvation, or exposure.

I rarely see Bobwhite quail anymore. It's a topic of conversation when we do see one. Fire ants aren't the only reason they've declined so much, but they are one of the major ones.

.....Alan.