WV Northern Bobwhite Hunting Guide

Also known as: Bobwhite quail, Virginia quail

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), also known as the Virginia quail or (in its home range) bobwhite quail, is a ground-dwelling bird native to Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba, with introduced populations elsewhere in the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. It is a member of the group of species known as New World quail (Odontophoridae). They were initially placed with the Old World quail in the pheasant family (Phasianidae), but are not particularly closely related. The name "bobwhite" is an onomatopoeic derivation from its characteristic whistling call. Despite its secretive nature, the northern bobwhite is one of the most familiar quails in eastern North America, because it is frequently the only quail in its range. Habitat degradation has contributed to the northern bobwhite population in eastern North America declining by roughly 85% from 1966 to 2014. This population decline is apparently range-wide and continuing. There are 20 subspecies of northern bobwhite, many of which are hunted extensively as game birds. One subspecies, the masked bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi), is listed as critically endangered with wild populations located in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and a reintroduced population in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arizona. Taxonomy The northern bobwhite was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tetrao virginianus. Linnaeus specified the type location as "America" but this has been restricted to the state of Virginia. Linnaeus based his account on the "American partridge" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. The northern bobwhite is now one of four species placed in the genus Colinus that was introduced in 1820 by the German naturalist Georg August Goldfuss. Subspecies There are 20 recog

Habitat & Range

The northern bobwhite can be found year-round in agricultural fields, grassland, open woodland areas, roadsides and wood edges. Its range covers the southeastern quadrant of the United States from the Great Lakes and southern Minnesota east to New York State and southern Massachusetts, and extending west to southern Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado front-range foothills to 7,000 feet, and all but westernmost Texas. It is absent from the southern tip of Florida (where the extinct Key West bobwhite subspecies once lived) and the highest elevations of the Appalachian Mountains, but occurs in eastern Mexico and in Cuba, and has been introduced to Hispaniola (both the Dominican Republic and Haiti), the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands (formerly), Puerto Rico, France, China, Portugal, and Italy. Isolated populations also have been introduced in the US states of Oregon and Washington. The northern bobwhite has also been introduced to New Zealand. There is no self-sustaining population in Pennsylvania, where the bird is considered extirpated; it is also considered extirpated in the states of New Hampshire and Connecticut. Its distribution in New York has been limited to Suffolk and Nassau Counties on Long Island, as well as potential population pockets in Upstate New York. The bird is considered declining or extirpated throughout much of the Northeastern United States. Similarly, the bird is almost extirpated from Ontario (and Canada as a whole), with the only self-sustaining population confirmed to exist recorded on Walpole Island.

Status, Trends & Threats

The northern bobwhite is rated as a Near-threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The northern bobwhite is threatened across its range due to habitat loss and habitat degradation. Changing land use patterns and changing fire regimes have caused once prime habitat to become unfavorable for the bobwhite.

Hunting Season

Nov 1 - Jan 3. Closed on Tomblin Wildlife Management Area.

License & Regulations

A valid West Virginia hunting license is required for resident and non-resident hunters age 15 and older. Licenses can be purchased online through the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources website or at authorized license retailers. Additional stamps may be required: RB (Resource Ballot) or RRB (Resource Recovery Ballot) for antlerless deer, TRD (Turkey Stamp) for spring turkey, and the federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (Duck Stamp) for waterfowl. Hunters born on or after January 1, 1975 must successfully complete a hunter education course.

References

• West Virginia — Northern Bobwhite