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Northern Bobwhite

(Colinus virginianus)

Photo: Ron Austing

Size             :  8 - 10  inches long

Description      : Male   - Reddish-brown above, with white on head, and black necklace, streaked sides
                          
                   Female - Like male, but duller
                   
Preferred Habitat: Brushy areas, open pine woods, farms
Preferred food   : Vegetation, seeds such as millet and hulled sunflower, grains, esp. scratch feed and 
                   cracked corn, and insects, esp. beetles, crickets and spiders.
Breeding Range   : Found naturally from the Rockies to the Atlantic, except in the extreme Northeast.
                   It has been introduced to the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, Hawaii, and west Texas.
Winter Range     : Same as breeding range.

Interesting Facts: The best known of all quail. Also the smallest native quail, except for the Harlequin,
                   found only in a very limited range.
                   Both male and female bobwhites help to build the nest, which at times is just a hollow
                   tramped in a clump of tall grass, but usually, there is a woven cover, arch-like, over
                   the nest, made of pine needles, grass and other vegetation, with an opening on one side.
                   Incubation period is 23 - 24 days, clutch size is usually 14 to 16. Generally there are
                   2 broods per season.
                   At night, a covey of bobwhite roost on the ground in a circle, with heads outward and
                   bodies touching. This arrangement keeps them warm even when they are covered with snow.