Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Analysis Of Predator Avoidance Behavior In California Valley Quail, Curt Vandenberg, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Quail populations have been in decline across the United States, primarily due to habitat loss and climate. For remedy, landowners and game managers have attempted to restore populations by releasing captive-reared quail. These releases were largely unsuccessful, presumably due to high predation losses. Recently, there has been an increased interest in quail translocations, which tend to have lower mortality rates than captive-reared bird releases. Translocations are expensive and unpredictable, and require many person-hours; releasing captive-reared quail would be more efficient if the practice were successful. We compared predator avoidance behavior between captive-reared and wild-translocated California quail (Callipepla californica) …