Although this quail can fly, it usually spends most of its time walking. It also can run quite fast. When a group of Northern Bobwhites are startled or disturbed they will fly off in all directions. Afterwards, soft calls may be heard from the brush, as the members try to locate one another and reunite. While roosting the members form a circle, with tails pointed inward and heads out. This arrangement provides some protection from predators as well as warmth.

Species Description:

Length: 20.3 to 24.7 cm
Physical characteristics: This short, stout bird has a large body, rounded wings and a short tail. It has a small crest on its head. The adult male has a dark head with a white eye stripe and chin. The body is a rust color with a pale belly and is marked with spots and streaking of white and black, creating a mottled appearance. The female is similar, but has a buff eye stripe and chin.
Voice: Song is a whistled bob-white with the second note higher than the first.

Breeding habitat:
Breeding pairs frequent brushy habitat, such as abandoned fields, hedgerows, or cultivated fields and tall grasslands.

Mating system:
Monogamous, with one brood produced per season.

Nest:
The nest is a concealed, shallow depression in the ground vegetation, lined with fine grass. It may have a side entrance.

Eggs:
The female usually lays 12 to 16 eggs, but the number can range from 6 to 28. The eggs are white to creamy-white and are unmarked. 30mm (1.2 in).

Chick development:
The precocial chicks are hatched after 23 - 24 days of incubation by both parents. The male and female continue their care until the chicks are 6 - 7 days old, when the young can find food for themselves. The parents will use a broken-wing display to distract predators from the chicks. The brood remains with the parents, joining other families, unsuccessful breeding pairs and unmatched males to form a covey. The covey roosts and feeds together. The covey usually breaks up as breeding season approaches again.

Diet:
The Northern Bobwhite diet consists of plant parts (such as leaves, buds and tubers), fruit, insects and small vertebrates. Their diet is seasonal, with more insects taken in the summer and more seeds and plant elements in the winter. This bird forages on the ground, scratching and digging, and sifting through the plant litter and loose soil.

Parasites:
The lice Menacanthus pricei Wiseman (Menoponidae) and Oxylipeurus clavatus (McGregor) (Philopteridae) were collected off of two bobwhite specimens collected at Big Creek in North Carolina in May of 1959 (Reeves et al. 2007).

Conservation Biology:
Although not considered threatened or endangered, this species has been impacted by the loss of habitat - particularly the consolidation of small farms and the elimination of brushy fence rows. Severe winters are also responsible for occasional declines in the population.

Breeding: The Northern Bobwhite occurs throughout the eastern United States, being found as far north as Wisconsin and Michigan, but is absent from the New England states north of Massachusetts. Its range extends as far south as Central America.

Winter: This species is non-migratory.

The Northern Bobwhite is an uncommon resident bird species in the Park, but is fairly common in appropriate habitat. This species prefers open and brushy areas so it is most likely to be found in Cades Cove, on a bald, or in association with other openings in the Park. For example, this species may be heard singing its distinctive song near the Parking lot at Newfound Gap.

Most recent observations have been from high elevation sites, such as Gregory Bald and Purchase Knob, with few observations coming from Cades Cove. In a survey of breeding birds in the Park, performed from 1996-1999, only a single Northern Bobwhite was observed during the breeding season.

References:

Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. Northern Bobwhite, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.

Reeves, W. K., L. A. Durden, C. M. Ritzi, K. R. Beckham, P. E. Super, and B. M. O?Connor. 2007. Ectoparasites and other ectosymbiotic arthropods of vertebrates in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Zootaxa.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.