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Winter food habits and preferences of northern bobwhites in east Texas

Informally Refereed

Abstract

During late winter, 1994 and 1995, we investigated food habits and preferences of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhites) collected on forested lands in east Texas. Crops for bobwhites were collected from areas under 3 management regimes, namely intensively managed for bobwhites (QMA) (i.e., tree basal area reduced, annually burned, numerous multi-stage food plots, etc.), extensively managed for timber and wildlife (NBS) (i.e., burned every 3-5 years, scattered 2-stage food plots with corn feeders), and unmanaged for wildlife (i.e., burned every 5-7 years). With years pooled, partridge pea (Cassia fasciculata), Hercules club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis), and pine (Pinus spp.) seeds, and clover leaflets (Trifolium spp.) comprised 93% by weight of foods of 79 bobwhites foods on QMA. On NBS, 81% of 40 bobwhite diets was butterfly pea (Centrosema virginianum), browntop millet, pine, wild bean (Strophostyles spp.), and corn seeds and clover leaflets; millet and corn were from food plots and feeders, respectively. For unmanaged areas, 79% of 19 bobwhite diets was butterfly pea, rush (Juncus spp.), pine, partridge pea, and American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) seeds, and clover leaflets. Top-ranked food items on QMA were pine,

Keywords

Colinus virginianus, food availability, food habits, food preferences, Johnson’s rank method, northern bobwhite, PREFER

Citation

Dietz, Donald R., Jr.; Whiting, R. Montague, Jr.; Koerth, Nancy E. 2009. Winter food habits and preferences of northern bobwhites in east Texas. In: Cederbaum, Sandra B.; Faircloth, Brant C.; Terhune, Theron M.; Thompson, Jeffrey J.; Carroll, John P., eds. Gamebird 2006: Quail VI and Perdix XII; 2006 May 31-June 4; Athens, GA: Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia: 160-171.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/33928