QUAIL RECOVERY: Where have all the quail gone? ... we 
find out on Passport to Texas ... 
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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

[SFX -- Bobwhite quail]

Can you identify that sound? It's a bobwhite quail. This 
curious little bird seems to call out its own name.

"Quail are definitely a charismatic species."

And Robert Perez should know. He's the quail program 
leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Perez says quail 
represent a suite of grassland birds.

"Or guild of birds that are associated with grasslands 
or savannah habitat types. Across the United States, 
this is a type of habitat type that has disappeared over 
the past hundred years. So along with bobwhite quail, 
there are about twenty-five other species of birds that 
are also thought to be in decline."

Changes in land use practices in Texas and throughout 
quail's range contribute to this decline. Residential and 
commercial buildings occupy habitat that previously 
supported abundant populations of wildlife, including 
bobwhites.

"Quail have become a memory in parts of the state, where as 
recently as fifteen, thirty, to forty years ago people 
remember hunting them. So yes, we have been affected by 
the same factors that have reduced quail across their 
entire range in the country."

Efforts are underway nationwide to restore quail habitat 
and re-establish faltering populations of the species. We'll 
learn about Texas' plan tomorrow.

"Our statewide recovery plan is called the Texas Quail 
Conservation Initiative."

That's our show ... made possible by the Sport Fish and 
Wildlife Restoration Program ... For Texas Parks and 
Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.