| Scientific Name |  Click photo to enlarge. Photo by Fred J. Alsop, III. |
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| Colinus virginianus Linnaeus - ATBI Database: Specimen Records | |||||
| Common Name | |||||
| Northern Bobwhite | |||||
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | |
| Animalia | Chordata | Aves | Galliformes | Odontophoridae | |
| Animals | Chordates | Birds | Domestic Fowl and Game Birds | New World Quail | |
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 – 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. Song recorded by John R. Sauer.
Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter: Northern Bobwhite
DISTRIBUTION
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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. Click on the map on the left to see the breeding range as determined by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). |
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Winter: This species is non-migratory. Click on the map on the left to see the winter range as determined by the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). |
 Click maps to enlarge. |
In Park: 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. |
NATURAL HISTORY
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 – 16 eggs, but the number can range from 6 –28. The eggs are white to creamy-white and are unmarked. 30mm (1.2'').
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.
Special Protection Status
Rangewide: None
Region: None
In Park: All plants and animals are protected within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Collection requires a permit, which is usually granted only for research or educational purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Maps
Breeding: Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2005. Version 6.2.2006. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
Winter: Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
In Park: Discover Life in America - All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. 2007. The ATBI Database. http://tremont22.campus.utk.edu/ATBI_start.cfm, Discover Life in America, Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738.
Photographs
Song or Call
John R. Sauer, Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html
Text
Camille Sobun, Susan Ann Shriner, and Paul Super, 2007.
Web page
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. 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117: 847-858.
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.
Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed. The Union, Washington, D. C.
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. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.
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.
