The “Ideal” Bobwhite Quail Habitat
(Pssst, you can find out a lot more about Bobwhite Quail Habitat on The Prairie Farm Podcast, especially episode 30.)
I thought about inserting a story from when I was nine, but then remembered every time I found a recipe online and had to read the whole life story of the writer of the blog… so I will save you the same fate I had to endure. The following are the essentials for habitat for the Bobwhite Quail.
Iowa is the northern fringe of habitat for Bobwhite Quail. They’re not fans of the cold… me either, Mr. Bob.
When thinking about habitat there are three major things to consider…
1. They are almost never found more than 100 yards from some woody vegetation. So some sort of shrubbery would be ideal for them, perhaps cedar trees or native sumac. If you establish something too tall you will give perching ground for natural predators such as hawks. Try to stay shorter than 15 feet. However, woody vegetation is not enough. They like edge feathering. (Edge Feathering is the transition of one type of landscape to another) Specifically, they like edge feathering of woody vegetation to grasslands.
2. They like cover, but not too much. In our quail habitat mixes, we will have half grasses and half wildflowers. The grasses are thicker, so if you do more than half, it will choke out the quail. The quail love to have semi open areas. Having wildflowers that help push down the grasses and keep them at bay help with this. But again, if you have a grass and wildflower mix, but no woody vegetation, then you will have very little quail traffic.
3. They need insects and seeds for their diet. The best way to have these is to have a healthy population of wildflowers in quantity and variety. I have seen “food plots” consist of nothing but oats. Not the end of the world. But the diet of these wonderful birds ideally consists of dozens if not hundreds of different sources within a given year. So in a perfect habitat they would have 20, 30, or even more types of wildflowers with sanctioned areas for denser wildflower population as food plots. These food plots can be as small as an acre and still be effective. I recommend 1-2 acres of food plot for every 20 acres of habitat.
Bobwhite Quail are fascinating social creatures, but with diminishing habitat, the privilege of viewing these wonderful birds in their native social environment is becoming rarer by the day.
If you are thinking of creating habitat for these quail, check out our carefully crafted mixes here.
Shoutout to Chris Helzer at prairieecologist.com for allowing us to use his quail photo.
Best of luck! And remember, conservation happens one yard at a time.
