I am sure you’ve all heard the old saying “Taking the sting out of it.” Something said like this “Man, the post-game picnic sure took the sting out of losing by eight runs.” I guess only a rare few people out there cherish being stung, literally or figuratively. So why would I write “Putting the sting in quail management?”
I was invited to give a talk this summer to the annual meeting of the Virginia State Beekeepers Association. Over two hundred people generally attend this meeting! Wow! And take a look at this link to see how many bee keeping chapters there are https://www.virginiabeekeepers.org/local-groups/local-groups-map . Many years ago, quite a few of us in the quail world began to see parallels between pollinating insect habitat and quail habitat; and, for over 8 years I have been giving a presentation titled “The Bobwhites and the Bees.” I am honored to “bee” speaking to the bee people!
The world of honey bees is fascinating. I know enough to get “stung” trying to talk about them, but while sharing programs with several superb bee keepers, I picked up a few things. Did you know that one out of every three bites of food is attributed to being visited by pollinators like bees, butterflies, birds and other animals?
Recently I watched a gray squirrel go through a tulip poplar, limb by limb, poking his nose into every flower – never thought of squirrels as pollinators, huh? The truth is animals pollinate about 85% of plant species worldwide. And pollinating insects are in decline. European honeybees help offset the decline in native pollinators and many growers of produce and fruit rely on them to meet the demand of consumers. But there are over 4,000 native bee species in North America and more 500 species of butterflies. So why do we rely on honey bees so much?
The habitat for all these species, like the habitat for bobwhite quail, has declined markedly. And I am sure you have all heard of honey bee “colony collapse disorder.” Declining habitat may not be the only cause of the declines in these species, but it is a major factor.
One thing I learned while listening to the North Carolina apiarist give a talk last summer is that honeybee keepers often have to feed their bees. There was a lot of talk about what types of feeds were best, and when feeding was necessary. That struck me as odd. I wondered to myself, “Was there not a day when bees could feed themselves year around?” To enhance quail conservation efforts in some areas, quail, too, are sometimes being supplementally fed. This suggests that modern ecosystems cannot naturally meet the food demands of many organisms. As a kid in the 1960s, I remember bumble bees being everywhere and wild hives of honey bees were common. Just as common was the whistle of the bobwhite. It simply seemed like the land bore more “fruit” then than it does now.
The overlap between quail habitat and that for pollinators is striking. I now judge the quality of quail habit during summer based on the number of bees I hear buzzing or butterflies I see nectaring as I walk through it. Many fantastic quail plants are equally great for bees. For example, the black and gold bumble-bee (Bombus auricomus) visits bee balms and night shades, which provide insects and good brood-rearing habitat structure for quail chicks. Partridge pea (Chameacrista fasciculata), a common native legume cherished by bees, is a key larval host for several butterfly species (like the Cloudless Sulphur, the Sleepy Orange and the Little Yellow) and makes great brood-rearing cover for bobwhites. And all you need to do in the month of May is walk by blooming blackberry thickets to know that this escape cover for quail is frequently visited by bees and insects of many varieties (not to mention quail relish eating the ripe berries).
Perhaps the most notable bee in decline is the Rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis), which was recently listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Its populations have declined by over 80% and it is only found in small portions of its native range. It nests in the ground and has an affinity for native sunflowers and golden-rods (Solidago sp.), two plant types that provide good habitat structure for quail, are rich with insects and covered with butterflies during fall.
And did I say “nest in the ground?” Yep. Though quail nest on, not in, the ground they do need bare dirt under their feet to prosper. This does not mean open exposed bare ground. It means some open-ness and bare dirt under a canopy of herbaceous vegetation. Aha! The same is true for many of our native bees. In addition to bumble-bees that nest in the ground, there are many species of digger bees that need access to bare ground for nesting. Those of you who garden know the ones I’m talking about. They can be very numerous around your garden in spring and at first may alarm you, but they almost never sting. They love to nest in the bare ground of a garden and while there they help pollinate your vegetables.
Here are some plants that really benefit bees and other pollinators: giant yellow-hyssop, swamp milkweed, butterfly weed, spotted Joe Pye weed, flat-topped goldenrod, St. John’s wort, blue lobelia, stiff goldenrod, hairy beardtongue, narrow-leaf mountain mint, black-eyed Susan, green-headed coneflower, rough-leaf goldenrod, white heath aster, blue vervain, New York ironweed, Culver’s root, partridge pea, sumac, desmodiums (beggar-weeds or tick trefoils), sunflowers, and many more. If everyone interested in bees, butterflies, and bobwhites would learn to love and manage for weeds, wildflowers and thickets, collectively we could all “put the sting” back into our environment, and in so doing put the life back into it. Call us if interested in learning how … 434-392-8328.
Sources of information for this BLOG:
Virginia Working Landscapes (a branch of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute) – www.VAWorkingLandscapes.org
The Xerces Society – www.xerces.org
The Virginia Native Plant Society – www.vnps.org
