My first blog post here was in February, 2011. That’s over seven years ago. During that timeframe I have probably broken every rule of blogging. Blogs are supposed to be short and frequent. Mine have been long and infrequent. I guess that’s because I am 55, I love to read and write, and I have refused to submit to the “blurb” society where it seems folks have hours to send multiple small blurbs, but no time to write a meaningful message to anyone. It is also because I don’t think my agency is paying me to be a full time blogger. So I have limited it to once a month. I have tried to mix things up in the 85 or so posts I have done.
Some have focused on habitat management, others on quail biology. Still more have focused on upland bird hunting. But my topics have been as diverse as writing about pollinators, 17-year locusts, squirrels and the Civil War…all of which I have attempted to relate back to quail in some way or another. A few have been personal…about loss. And one or two have been philosophical…guilty as charged. But they have all come from the heart and from the caring I have about quail, wildlife, and all of you.
I do not honestly know how many folks read my blog. I hear from a few good friends from time to time that they enjoyed a particular piece. I hope it does some good for someone, somewhere. I have thought about organizing them into a book for lack of a better term, but I never seem to have time. So for what it is worth, in case any of you may wish to go back and look at some of the BLOGs, I am listing the more technical, educational ones below by month. They are all archived on the NBCI website www.bringbackbobwhites.org under BLOGs and under Shell’s Covert. These are not listed in chronological or any other order. I am just going through my list and stating a topic of interest and month and year. For what they are worth…
– Winter’s Effect – March 2014
– Quail on the Cheap (guest BLOG – Justin Folks) – January 2014
– Reforestation Education – October 2017
– Great October Quail Count (how to estimate your quail population) – October 2015
– Pen-raised Quail – November 2013
– Synthesis of Quail 8 Research papers – September 2017
– Value of Protective Cover (It’s a Shell Game) – April 2014
– Value of Weeds – June 2011
– Quail Food Habits (Lespedeza Alone) – August 2016
– Simple Changes in Mowing – November 2012
– Quail Harvest: Education versus Regulation – December 2016
– Golf Cart Quail (how small land changes affect quail populations) – April 2015
– Christmas Quail Management Package (links to multiple DIY sites) – December 2017
– Ring of Fire (history of fire and wildlife) – February 2015
– Housing Development Quail (Arrangement of cover for quail) – June 2017
– Where are They Going to Come From (notes on quail dispersal / movements) June 2016
– Seeing the Light (how to determine if your timber is open enough) – March 2017
– The Prospector (how even small patches of cover can help) – May 2012
– Natives versus Non-Native Plants: Not a Simple Issue – May 2016
– Putting the Sting back in Quail Management (pollinator / quail overlap) May 2017
– Quail Population Management for the Landowner – November 2012
– Quail Disease / Parasite Issues – November 2015
– Cost of Managing Timber for Quail – November 2017
– Quail Translocation Issues – September 2015
– Low Brow Bird Hunting (quail hunting does not have to break your bank) – February 2017
– Bird Dog Training – March 2018
– The Last Bird Hunter (future worst case scenario??) – January 2018
Those were some of the more useful posts. If you have been reading for 7 years – Thank You for sticking with us. If you are a new reader, maybe there is something here you can use. And if you have ideas for future posts send them to marc.puckett@dgif.virginia.gov . Happy Spring to all of you.
