Mar 24, 2024 By Ben Moyer 5 min read

Bobwhite quail have returned to Pennsylvania. Now, in spring, that might sound like a natural event. But quail don’t migrate. Their return got some help.

On Tuesday, March 19 officials from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Army released 50 wild quail onto the Letterkenny Army Depot near Chambersburg in Franklin County. Those quail joined 26 other bobwhites released there over the past week. Biologists and nature enthusiasts hope the pioneer quail nest, reproduce, and become the center of an expanding population.

Bobwhite quail are native to Pennsylvania, once inhabiting all 67 counties. Originally, they lived on natural forest openings, then thrived on small, mixed-crop farms in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Older readers may remember hearing their cheery “bob-white” call around fields and rural homes in their youth.

More recent changes in land use doomed the bobwhite. Quail need what’s called “old field” habitat, a mix of grasses and scattered native shrubs that provide cover and food in the form of seeds and insects. But rampant urban sprawl destroyed much habitat in the prime range of southcentral counties, and massive changes in farm practices reduced the quality of quail habitat everywhere. Any potential habitat that remained got overrun with invasive shrubs that crowd out grasses.

Franklin County’s Cumberland Valley, around Chambersburg, was the last area known to harbor native bobwhites. Game Commission biologists believe those died out in the mid-1990s.

“We lost the bobwhite on our watch,” said Bryan Burhans, Game Commission executive director. “Now, on our watch, we’re bringing them back.”

Bringing them back was a long process. It started in 2010 when Game Commission biologists and Letterkenny Army Depot’s natural resource management staff considered Letterkenny as a possible site for recovery of wild ring-necked pheasants.

“We had to conclude that [Letterkenny] was not great pheasant habitat, but we thought it could be made into ideal habitat for quail. So, we wrote a plan,” said Craig Kindlin, chief of Letterkenny’s Environmental Division.

Letterkenny Army Depot covers 18,000 acres just northwest of Chambersburg (That’s slightly smaller than Ohiopyle State Park). The Depot’s primary purpose is to store equipment that supports the Army’s Air and Missile Defense and Long-Range Precision Fire systems. But thousands of acres under Army control surround the functioning installations. Game Commission biologists and Letterkenny’s environmental staff picked out 3,600 acres as the “Bobwhite Quail Focus Area” and got to work.

Beginning in 2017, conservation professionals and some security-cleared volunteers who have deer hunting permits at Letterkenny began mowing, discing, treating invasive plants with herbicides, deploying prescribed fire, and making appropriate timber cuts on 2,700 acres within the focus area.

In 2023, Letterkenny invited 65 experts on bobwhite quail biology from across the southern United States (where wild populations remain) to assess the transformed habitat. They declared the site ready for re-introduction of wild birds.

This winter, biologists cooperating with the project trapped 26 wild quail from Fort Knox, Kentucky and Fort Barfoot, Virginia, both Army facilities, and 50 from a Tall Timbers land trust tract in northern Florida. Trapped birds were flown overnight for their release at Letterkenny.

Another trapping effort is planned for Fort Barfoot next week.

Andrew Ward, quail biologist with the Game Commission, said mid-March is the ideal time to release wild quail onto the landscape here.

“They’re now grouped in coveys and will soon begin their breeding season,” Ward said. “Releasing them now means we’ll minimize any losses to predation or weather before they reproduce. We’re trying to strike a balance, putting out enough birds here to jump-start a population, without taking too many birds out of our source sites.”

Todd Black, Deputy to the Commander at Letterkenny said the project also had benefits for the Army’s mission, including the reduction of fire hazard through the removal of invasive shrubs. “The release of bobwhite quail into their new home highlights how Letterkenny takes proactive measures and works with our partners in the Game Commission to adapt operations and steward Army lands,” Black said.

Habitat improvement for quail has already brought benefits to other wildlife species.

“Replacing invasive shrubs with native grasses has helped other species,” said Matt Miller, Letterkenny Depot’s natural resource manager. “Even before we were ready for the quail release, we saw the natural return of species like the grasshopper sparrow, dickcissel, and yellow-breasted chat. And there has been a significant increase in pollinator insects that will benefit this whole region.”

Two graduate students from the University of Delaware will monitor the reintroduced quail at Letterkenny this summer, to gauge their progress and suggest improvements.

Andrew Ward also credited Quail Forever, Pheasants Forever, and local chapters of the National Wild Turkey Federation for their help and support in bobwhite restoration.

“This is an exciting time,” said Burhans. “It’s difficult, but not impossible, to take a species that’s disappeared (from a region) and bring it back again.”

Ben Moyer is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America.