Behavioral Responses at Distribution Extremes: How Artificial Surface Water Can Affect Quail Movement Patterns

Supplementing wildlife populations with resources during times of limitation has been suggested for many species. The focus of our study was to determine responses of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; Linnaeus) and scaled quail (Callipepla squamata; Vigors) to artificial surface-water sources in semiarid rangelands. From 2012–2014, we monitored quail populations via radio telemetry at Beaver River Wildlife Management Area, Beaver County, Oklahoma. We used cumulative distribution functions and resource utilization functions (RUFs) to determine behavioral responses of quail to water sources. We also used Program MARK to determine if water sources had any effect on quail vital rates. Our results indicated that both northern bobwhite and scaled quail exhibited behavioral responses to the presence of surface-water sources. Northern bobwhite selected for areas < 700 m and < 650 m from water sources during the breeding and nonbreeding season, respectively. However, the nonbreeding season response was weak ( = -0.06, SE = < 0.01), and the breeding season ( = 0.01, SE = 0.02) response was nonsignificant on the basis of RUFs. Scaled quail selected for areas < 650 m and < 250 m from water sources during the breeding and nonbreeding season, respectively. The breeding season RUF ( = -0.31, SE = 0.07) indicated a stronger response for scaled quail than bobwhite. Conversely, there was no direct effect of surface water on quail vital rates or nest success during the course of our study. Although water may affect behavioral patterns of quail, we found no evidence that it affects quail survival or nest success for these two species.