Northern Bobwhite Quail* (Colinus virginianus) with Greater roadrunner photobombing ..

[Bo Zarts]

*Population declining, partly due to loss of habitat to urban encroachment
Starr County, Texas - February 2026
©2026 Bo Zarts Studio

[Lochloosa]

1. I remember their call when I was a kid. Loved listening to it.

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[TuxedoKat]

2. Me too

We lived next to a farm in rural Illinois,and we’d hear them a lot. My sister and I used to getup birdwatching to try and see one but we never did, they were so elusive. I also remember Whippoorwills calling in MD at night. Went out to the same area to try and hear them again a few years back --long gone now, heartbreaking.

[Cheezoholic]

3. Yep. They were everywhere here in Indiana also. Gone. Expansion of pesticide use in the 80's wiped them out

Had a friend that worked on studying the decline of Bob White Quail in Indiana when she was going to IU. While habitat loss was a factor, pesticide use was the main reason. They need insects in the late winter through summer. Hell, I rarely see grasshoppers anymore and I live in the country. I used to hunt them when I was a kid in the 60's and 70's with my great grandfather. They were everywhere, and I mean everywhere. And delicious I might add. Its amazing the amount of wildlife I spent many of my young years with that is completely gone or so scarce you're lucky to see it once every few years. We ain't gonna last much longer I'm afraid. What a waste of 10's of million of years of evolution.