Upland game report from the ODW

dennishoddy · Jul 23, 2012

Oklahoma's Severe Weather Impacts Nesting Birds

In addition to predation, quail and other ground nesting birds are susceptible to Oklahoma's notorious severe weather. As heavy rains and flash flooding raise water levels and fill farm ponds, nests can be destroyed and down-covered chicks can become hypothermic and die. Added to that, hail storms can kill adults or crack unattended eggs. Unfortunately, multiple hail storms have swept across the state during the first two months of the 2012 nesting season-producing golf ball to softball size hail stones. While the direct effect of these storms on the local population is unknown, many managers realize initial clutches could have been impacted. As you remember weather events from earlier this year, consider their effect on our upland game species.

According to the National Weather Service there are 109 hail reports for Oklahoma for the months of May and June, which is the peak season for first nest attempts.

1951 Hail Storm Kills over 100 Birds-Including 41 Quail
In October of 1951, a massive hail storm hit southwestern Oklahoma. One inch hail fell for about 10 minutes and covered the ground to a depth of two to three inches. Three days after the storm a game warden and two technicians inspected a 120 foot wide and one mile long shelterbelt tree row northwest of Mangum, Oklahoma. In the shelterbelt, they found the following dead wildlife: 45 Swainson's Hawks, 1 immature red-tailed hawk, 1 Cooper's hawk, 30 crows, 3 barn owls, 3 mourning doves, 4 cottontail rabbits, and 1 wood rat.

At another farm, three coveys of quail were found dead in a weedy fencerow. Twenty-two birds were in the first covey, 11 birds in the second, and 8 birds were found in the third covey. Coveys attempted to huddle under clumps of sunflowers, ragweeds, and thistles.

Oklahoma State University is collecting weather data from 6 WEATHERHAWK weather stations at Beaver River and Packsaddle WMAs. The units are stand alone, self-contained weather stations that are capable of collecting weather data at multiple intervals and for extended periods of time with little or no maintenance. The weather stations are collecting data every hour. The data includes: temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. The weather data obtained from the weather stations will be used to help create thermal models of nesting and brooding habitats. This will help explain how habitat structure enables quail to deal with extreme temperatures. The long-term weather data will also be used to help explain fluctuations in annual quail population estimates. The data will also be correlated with changes in vegetation following management activities.

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Iggie · Jul 23, 2012

So we had some weather that releived some of our drought and heat of last year but its likely to of reduced quail further then it already was? So how long till quail is protected? Or are they that scarce yet?

dennishoddy · Jul 23, 2012

Spring weather overall was good for hatching quail and other upland game. Then came those widespread hail storms. Some parts of the state escaped the hail, others didn't. They will be doing roadside surveys in another month to get a feel of the survival rate. Let's hope for the best.

poopgiggle · Jul 23, 2012

I remember that last summer was really rough on the quail population but there was some speculation that the warm fall and winter would help with some late nesting opportunities. Hopefully the hail storms didn't totally offset the gains from the warm winter.

From the reports I've been reading the thing that's really driving the quail out is habitat loss, so even if the weather were perfect there would still be a drop in populations.

Iggie · Jul 23, 2012

habitat is mainly short brush/ high grassy areas?

dennishoddy · Jul 23, 2012

Chase (iggie) said:
habitat is mainly short brush/ high grassy areas?

Yes and no. Early on in the CRP program that pays farmers to put land aside was planted in Old World Fescu. Recently, biologist have found that upland birds eating the seed suffer lower reproduction rates. Blue stem is the favored grass now.
Quail are particular in their habitat. They require shade, areas to let the young feed, loafing areas, cover from predators, etc. Prescribed burns on small parcels provide some of this, but quail require large areas to make a comeback. 5K acres is actually needed to get a population going, and that is hard to find.
Farming/Ranching is a marginal business with mother nature determining if you make a profit or not. You can work your ass off, and end up in debt from one hail storm. Folks see a nice house on a farm and think the family has it made, but I can assure you, it doesn't happen that way.
Farming practices have really changed over the last 30 years with them pulling up fences, and working the ground, leaving no cover like their parents did with brushy fence rows, and field corners that provided habitat.
There are federal programs out there that are paying farmers and ranchers to leave those corners and fence rows, but it takes many of them to do it, not just one or two.