The Quandary over Quails

Walking through Lower Green Swamp Nature Preserve in the morning, light from the sun just barely guiding your way as dew on the grass begins to soak your boots. The nighttime din of frogs and crickets has long subsided, and songbirds begin to call. Then you hear the little whistle that reminds you of your childhood playing in the woods and fields.  

“Bob WHITE!” they call. Males perching on fence posts to cast their voices further in hopes to find a mate hiding in the grasses. You try to whistle back, imperfectly mocking these tiny little birds that helped changed land management practices across the county. They ignore you and call again, “Bob white, poor bob WHITE!” 

Northern Bobwhite Calls

In the media and in the minds of most people, prescribed burning and the image of the wildland firefighter is one associated with the western united states, but it is the southeastern states where prescribed fire was born and raised, partially because of a tiny, familiar bird – the bobwhite quail.  

Bobwhite quail in an oak, photo by the USFWS, 2002.

Long before us, the flora and fauna of the land mass we now call Florida experienced frequent fire. Hot, dry weather combined with lightning strikes created ecosystems over time that adapted to these fires, with plants and animals coming to expect it and modifying their life cycles to not just tolerate fire but to thrive with it. Indigenous people such as the Creek and Cherokee witnessed these cycles of fire and growth and harnessed the power of fire to help clear land, hunt, and cultivate the plants they used most. 

These fires were typically low-intensity surface fires, often set intentionally during the late winter or early spring. The frequent burning created open landscapes with a mix of grasslands, shrubs, and scattered trees, maintaining a mosaic of habitats that supported a rich diversity of plant and animal species. White settlers to areas like the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida saw this use of fire by indigenous people and learned it from them; using fire to help clear their lands for making homesteads and room for cattle or crops.

A low and steady prescribed burn in Lower Green Swamp Nature Preserve, 2020.

Some of these settlers began fire suppression tactics to protect their crops, however. Farmers would fire to clear land for crops, but it was often seen as a destructive tool that could damage crops, timber, and infrastructure. Fires that escaped control could devastate settlements, prompting landowners to adopt a more negative view of fire.

By the mid-19th century, as the region became more populated and urbanized, fire was seen less as a natural tool for land management and more as a threat to safety and economic interests. This shift was exacerbated by the rapid expansion of timber industries and agriculture, which began to replace natural fire-dependent ecosystems with more controlled, cultivated landscapes. 

After the Civil War, the reconstruction era South saw rapid population changes. Northerners moved south and bought homesteads and plantations and brought their notions of land management with them. Fears of raging forest fires caused fire to be suppressed instead of embraced, and the centuries long practices of indigenous and agricultural fire were almost entirely halted.  

Fire suppression, logging, and development changed the southern landscapes almost entirely. The U.S. Forest Service, established in 1905, played a major role in shaping federal land management policies, including fire management. The growing concern over wildfires, particularly following the devastating fires out West, led to a national policy shift. The U.S. Forest Service adopted the principle of "fire exclusion," which aimed to prevent all fires in forests. By the 1920’s the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies had developed systems for detecting and responding to wildfires, including fire lookout towers, fire crews, and early warning systems. 

This period also saw the suppression of any prescribed or agricultural burns. The widespread practice of suppressing wildfires became standard in both national and state forests, as well as private lands, even in regions where fire had historically been an essential ecological process. 

A male (white faced) and female bobwhite in the grass at Lower Green Swamp Nature Preserve.

At the same time, public and private hunting lands saw a shift in the wildlife. Once beloved grounds full of game saw thick forests and brush grow, making traversing the land hard for fowl, small game, and deer. As their prime habitat disappeared, so did the animals. The Bobwhite quail, a notable favorite, was missing and that was a problem for wealthy game hunters and subsistence hunters alike. 

The bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) is a small, ground-dwelling bird that has been a staple of wildlife in the southeastern United States for centuries. The bobwhite quail’s survival is intricately tied to the structure of its habitat. They need a combination of dense, low-growing vegetation for cover and open spaces for foraging. The species is highly dependent on early-successional habitats—areas that are in the early stages of regrowth after disturbance. Such habitats offer a mix of grasses, forbs (flowering plants), and shrubs, providing the necessary food and shelter for the quail. 

Once abundant across the region, bobwhite quail populations saw a dramatic decline due to habitat loss, changes in agricultural practices, and fire suppression. Razing of landscape to keep livestock or plant crops destroyed the shrubs, grasses, and forbs the quails need to thrive. Fire suppressed areas grew too thick for grasses and forbs to grow in, and too much cover meant quail could not easily watch for predators.  

A bobwhite nest, protected by grasses in Lower Green Swamp Nature Preserve.

As acres of land became fragmented and changed, the quail disappeared – but this did not go unnoticed. Herbert L. Stoddard, a wildlife biologist and researcher born in 1902, had great interest in bobwhite quail that began in the 1920’s, and he spent much of his career studying the species and its habitat requirements. He was particularly concerned with the declining numbers of quail and the aforementioned factors driving that decline. Stoddard recognized that one of the main reasons for the bobwhite’s decline was the loss of suitable habitat, particularly the loss of early-successional habitats due to changes in agricultural practices, fire suppression, and forest management. 

In the 1930’s, while working for the U.S. Forest Service and later the Georgia Department of Game and Fish, Stoddard began experimenting with fire to maintain the open, grassy habitats needed by bobwhite quail. He demonstrated that prescribed fire could be used as a management tool to reduce woody vegetation, promote the growth of grasses and forbs, and maintain the diverse habitat structure that quail require. His research revealed that periodic fires were essential for maintaining the quail’s preferred habitats. Stoddard also emphasized the importance of habitat diversity, recognizing that a mix of young and mature vegetation as well as varying burn frequencies, would create optimal conditions for quail. 

Stoddard’s book, The Bobwhite Quail: Its Habits, Preservation, and Increase, first published in 1931, became a seminal work in wildlife management. In this book, Stoddard outlined the principles of quail management, which included habitat restoration, controlled burns, and habitat enhancement through the planting of native grasses and legumes. His work influenced not only quail conservation but also the broader field of wildlife biology and management.  

 

Prescribed fire is now a tool used frequently by public land managers and private landowners throughout the Southeast again. 
CELM wildland firefighter on a prescribed burn at Alafia River State Park, 2024. 

In the near 100 years since Stoddard’s work, understanding of fire’s role in ecosystem health has grown, fire management policies have evolved, and prescribed fire is now recognized as a vital tool in restoring and maintaining healthy landscapes in the Southeastern U.S. The lessons learned from this history highlight the importance of managing fire as a natural process, rather than suppressing it entirely, to ensure the long-term health of the region's ecosystems.  

By simulating the natural fire cycles that once shaped many ecosystems, prescribed fire can promote the growth of native plants, reduce woody vegetation, and increase food availability. This greatly benefits the bobwhite quail and other wildlife and plant species beloved to Florida such as the gopher tortoise, the red-cockaded woodpecker, and the longleaf pine.  

Although bobwhite quail populations have continued to decline in many areas due to ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation, the work of Herbert L. Stoddard has helped bring attention to the importance of habitat restoration and management. His legacy, and that of the bobwhite quail, lives on through the continued use of prescribed fire and other management techniques that aim to restore the habitats essential for quail and other wildlife species.

To learn more about the Northern bobwhite quail and prescribed fire, come to the Prescribed Fire Fest on January 25th at Edward Medard Conservation Park!