Oklahoma landowners interested in improving quail habitat should attend a quail field day either June 11 at
Cross Timbers Wildlife Management Area (WMA) or June 12 at
Spavinaw WMA. Sessions go from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and admission is free. Each field day will include sessions on prescribed fire and pollinator habitat, as well as a special session on an area-specific management practice.
The quail field days are sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, and Quail Forever. The first of the three field days occurred on April 16 at Sandy Sanders WMA. It featured a special session on juniper thinning (
see photos).
The special session on June 11 at Cross Timbers WMA will cover native plant establishment, and the special session on June 12 at Spavinaw WMA will cover forest thinning. For more information, contact Laura McIver, Quail Forever’s regional representative in Oklahoma, at (907) 750-2600 /
email.
Quail & Pollinators – Pollinator habitat is excellent brood rearing habitat for quail, pheasants, and grassland songbirds. Pollinator habitat (native flowering plants) attract soft-bodied insects that quail chicks rely on for survival during the first 6-8 weeks of life.
Quail & Prescribed Fire –
Prescribed fire is the one of the most effective and practical means of managing quail habitat, as fire creates early-successional habitat which quail thrive in. Prescribed fire fosters new growth of native vegetation, removes ground litter barriers for quail chicks, and creates bug-rich environments that are essential for bobwhite quail.
About Quail Forever
Pheasants Forever, including its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 140,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent; the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure.
Photo: John Bellah, Quail Forever member