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Birds can be ID’d by ear
Published February 5, 2009
Some birds actually say their name. The greater kiskadee flycatcher says very plainly, “Kiskadee, kiskadee, kiskadee,” and the plaintive call of the whip-poor-will is heard across the eastern two-thirds of the United States.
Some say the gray catbird meows like a cat, and down on the coast, the laughing gulls sound like they are really laughing at us. Get underneath a flock of them and they might give you more that the Bronx cheer.
But the one bird we all know and understand is the plump ground bird that says “Bob White.” They actually are named northern bobwhite, mostly because they never say “Bob White, y’all.”
The secretive bird is found in brushy woods and fields in coveys of up to 20 birds. But in the last 40 years, its population has decreased 80 percent. It has been for many years the most popular game bird for hunters, but its decline is due to the loss of habitat, and some people believe, the advent of fire ants.
Those who want to hunt bobwhites today have to purchase domestically raised birds and release them in the wild. I had a friend who purchased a box of birds, but when he turned them lose, the birds went under the pickup truck and had to be prodded with the barrel of a shotgun. Even then, the birds refused to fly so they could be shot sportingly.
The northern bobwhite is the only species found in its territory, but there are variants in color between the eastern, great plains and Texas, and the Florida birds.
Other species of the bird include the Montezuma quail, which has nothing to do with Montezuma’s revenge. They are seen in Southwest Texas, but more likely in Arizona. They are slightly smaller than the bobwhite and have a white-and-black patterned face.
California quails are seen, as you might have guessed, in California. Their kissing cousin, the Gambel’s quail, is found a little east of California, but the two species often meet at Las Vegas and intermingle, if you know what I mean. Both species have a feathered plume on their head, a black face and a russet cap.
The other quail seen in Texas is the scaled quail, but you will have to go west, young man, to see them. They are a beautiful bird with feathers on the breast that look like fish scales, and they have a topknot. Mountain quail are not seen in Texas but only in the Northwest United States.
The northern bobwhite makes a number of sounds, and the other night I tried to fool Jackie by giving the mating call as we sat in our recliners, watching television. I didn’t know she owned a shotgun.
E.M. “Bosie” Boswell is a member of the American Birding Association and the Audubon Society. Contact him at 6413 Stonewall, Greenville, TX 75402, or e-mail bosieb(at)geusnet.com.
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