| Darrell E. Townsend II, Ronald E. Masters, Robert L. Lochmiller, David M. Leslie, Jr., Stephen J. DeMaso and Alan D. Peoples |
| Authors are Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla. 74078; State extension wildlife specialist, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla. 74078; professor, Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla. 74078; unit leader, USGS Biological Resources Division, Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla. 74078; Upland wildlife program coordinator, Wildlife Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Tex. 78744; and chief of game, Department of Wildlife Conservation, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73152. |
Abstract |
| Previous authors have described nesting habitat of the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) throughout its range, but few have compared structural or compositional differences of vegetation between nest sites and random non-use sites, and successful and non-successful nests. From 1996–1998, we compared cover and structure of 85 plant species from 80 nest sites of northern bobwhite in western Oklahoma. Nest sites were consistently associated with greater structural complexity than what was available at random. Bobwhites selected nest sites with a greater coverage of grass (ca. 50%) and woody (ca. 20–30%) vegetation with a relatively low percentage of bare ground, presumably because these attributes maximize their chance for successful reproduction by providing protection against weather and predators. Successful nests were more concealed during 1996 and 1997 (12.37 and 10.74% visibility, respectively) than non-successful nest sites (21.6 and 27.65% visibility), but levels of concealment did not differ during 1998. We found no significant differences in vegetation composition or structure between successful and non-successful nest sites. |
| Key Words: bobwhite, Colinus virginianus, gallinaceous, habitat, northern, quail, upland game. |