Beef, Brush, and Bobwhites: Quail Management in Cattle Country

Chapter 1. The Colin Cosmos

the Colin Cosmos Chapter 1 WE ARE ABOUT to embark on a study of the life history and management of one of the most intensively and extensively researched wildlife species—the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). Literally thousands of studies have been conducted on the species. It has been the subject of formal investigation since the early 1900s. Name a topic about northern bobwhites, and it likely has been studied by someone somewhere sometime. Having such a broad and deep research foundation is fortunate for a species , particularly if it is one of conservation and management importance, as is the northern bobwhite (hereafter, bobwhite). However, when you deal with such an extensively and intensively studied species, you sometimes cannot see the trees for the forest. Yes, that is what we intended to say. The trees represent important observations and principles in the forest of knowledge. Our purpose in this book is to select and emphasize observations and principles that lead to a general body of knowledge for understanding and managing these quail. In this chapter, we observe bobwhite populations from deep antiquity to the present. This will entail a discussion of their taxonomy and evolution, population status in the modern world, and gaps and salient findings in the very research foundation from which we extract information. in the Beginning About 15 billion years ago, there was a Big Bang in space. According to physicists , this explosion marked the beginning of time and resulted in the universe we know today. The Big Bang led to the formation of the sun and stars and all the planets in our galaxy. Physicists estimate that the earth formed about 10 billion years after the Big Bang. Nearly 1 billion years elapsed on the newly formed planet before the earliest forms of life began to appear. First came simple cells, then photosynthesizing bacteria, and then multicellular organisms. The rest of life followed as the millennia multiplied upon themselves. The first vertebrate animals (that is, animals with backbones) appeared about 500 million years ago. The order of evolution seems to have been fish, amphibians and reptiles, mammals, and birds. Birds, therefore, were late-comers in the 2 chapter one theater of life. Although the evolution of birds is a contentious issue, it is believed that birds evolved from an ancestral dinosaur about 150 million years ago. Millions of years of bird evolution passed. Then, about 40 million years ago, New World quails (that is, quails of North, Central, and South America) came onto the scene. The epicenter of quail evolution on this landmass is thought to be Central America. This is supported by the fact that this region contains the highest diversity of quails in the Americas. From here, quails radiated south and north over the next several million years. The genus of bobwhites (Colinus) evolved sometime during the past 7–12 million years. If we place things into perspective, anthropologists believe that the first human ancestors roamed the earth about 2–4 million years ago. Agriculture has been practiced only in the past 10,000 years. Ornithologists estimate there are more than 10,000 species of birds today. New World quails consist of about 32 species, of which the genus Colinus accounts for 4: northern bobwhite, black-throated bobwhite (C. nigrogularis), spot-bellied bobwhite (C. leucopogon), and crested bobwhite (C. cristatus). The northern bobwhite is found in North America (United States and Mexico). The black-throated bobwhite occurs in southern Mexico (Yucatán) and Central America, and the spot-bellied bobwhite occurs in Central America. The crested bobwhite extends from Central America into northern South America. Figure 1.1. The center of evolution of New World quails is believed to be Central America. The genus of northern bobwhite, Colinus, evolved about 7–12 million years before present from a chachalaca-like ancestor. The bird in this photograph is a plain chachalaca (Ortalis vetula). (Photograph by Larry Ditto) The Colin Cosmos 3 The bobwhite belongs to the taxonomic order Galliformes (chickenlike birds; Table 1.1). Like other galliforms, bobwhites have a large, muscular gizzard and large intestinal ceca, blind sacs on the intestinal tract where microbes live that aid in digestion. Bobwhites have short, round wings capable of producing short bursts of rapid flight and powerful legs and toes for scratching the soil for food. They produce large clutches and precocial young, which are capable of leaving the nest soon after hatching. This is in...