Establishment of Quail Habitat in Native Warm Season Grasses.

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) have been declining in Mississippi since as early as the 1960s. This has been mostly due to various anthropomorphic disturbances. Anthropomorphic disturbance and replacement of native forage with exotic species provide poor habitat quality features for native species. At Red Hills Mine, the “blank pallet” of post-mining reclamation allows vegetation, such as grasses, to fill important roles in restoring the new landscape. These roles include control of soil erosion through ground cover, habitat development, wild spaces, and production of forages. The objective of this project is to evaluate the establishment of bobwhite quail habitats in the established native grasses such as: big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) and upland switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). To do this, we will be using radio collars and drones to monitor quail movement and detect nests in vegetation. Not only will we be looking at the vegetation in the area, but we will also be looking at raptor abundance as well as evaluating small mammal communities within Red Hills Mine to link quail survival with habitat. We expect that this project will tell us how quail are using the reclaimed landscape at Red Hills mine given the vegetation and predators dispersed in the environment.