More quail released around Shelter Island: Third year for tick control effort

Building on successful grassroots efforts of the past few years, the Clark family and others recently got together to purchase and release approximately 1,000 quail (small bobwhites) around Shelter Island.

Although these birds are released on specific properties all over the Island, they will tend to migrate to surrounding areas as well. These are young quail that may be just a couple of months old, but they can fly. They seem to break off into smaller groups and you can find them feeding in a wide variety of habitats.

This is the third year that quail have been released, joining some of their fellow quail that were released and survived during the past two years. There is also evidence that there has been some limited success pertaining to the breeding of quail released prior to this summer.

Voracious consumers of ticks, the little birds were once a familiar sight on the Island, but their numbers have dwindled. Islanders may recall their distinctive bobwhite call, now rarely heard as predators and destruction of their natural habitats have taken their toll.

Islanders including Sean Clark, Dan Clark, Ben Smith and others had been discussing the idea for years, and in 2022 developed a plan of action. Sean is an officer in the Shelter Island Police Department; his cousin Dan runs the DC Tree business and is a member of the Town’s Conservation Advisory Council.

Ben Smith, who runs Island Exterior Cleaning, initially reached out to Ranger Eric Powers, a biologist at the Center for Environmental Education and Discovery (CEED) in Brookhaven, a nature center that provides public nature programs and events, school and community-based environmental education and conservation projects. CEED aims to create a sustainable population of Northern Bobwhite Quail on Long Island once again.

According to Kenn Kaufman’s Birds of North America, the male quail “whistle their name from fence posts, low branches … small flocks (coveys) run on the ground, hide in dense grass of brushy fields, open woods.”

“I remember as a child in the 90s,” Sean Clark said when the project was launched, “I saw little coveys around, but there’s been a significant decline in the quail population, principally from the loss of habitat. There are more houses going up, less open fields.”

Shelter Island’s Bobwhite Initiative has the following goals:

• Restore and maintain bobwhite populations in line with natural carrying capacity.

• Encourage best land management practices to improve early “successional habitat.”

• Decrease the proliferation of ticks and associated tick-borne illnesses through natural means.

“Our next phase will specifically focus on education and spreading best land management practices,” said Sean Clark.

Ticks are a long-standing concern on the Island because of the diseases they carry, like Lyme and babesiosis, infecting Islanders at high rates, often with debilitating long-term effects.

Using the quail to reduce ticks also aims at cutting down the reliance on pesticides, Mr. Clark explained. In recent years, he added, the numbers of fox on the Island have been down, as a result of mange. Since they would typically be predators for quail, now seems an opportune time to re-introduce the birds.

Quail are not hardy like chickens, he said. Instead of raising them from eggs or chicks, the Shelter Island initiative purchases adult birds, which are more expensive, to increase their chance of survival. When the project was launched, the plan was to place them on private land with owners’ permission. Dan Clark planned to request use of Town lands when appropriate. Silver Beach, Hay Beach and the Ram Island causeway were also promising sites.

Quail have a short life span and typically a 10% natural survival rate. One of the challenges for the initiative is reducing the risk to the quail from predators. One observer saw a red-tailed hawk swoop down after some quail in Westmoreland recently — it was successfully fought off by a crow that time. But other dangers lurk closer to home.

“House cats are a huge predator for them,” Mr. Clark said. Part of the focus is on community education, for example, encouraging pet owners to keep their cats indoors at night.

Also, it’s important for drivers to be especially careful when driving around the Island. A statement from the quail project’s organizers said: “We all need to be aware of both humans and wildlife that are utilizing the roadways and surrounding areas. We certainly do not want to see any accidents involving bikers, joggers, walkers, or other drivers. But we also do not want to accidentally hit a turtle, quail or other bird, deer, or any wildlife for that matter. Please lower your speed and give your full attention to the road — it is sometimes not easy to spot a small turtle or bird in the road.”