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Historic Status

Accounts of Northern Bobwhites in Massachusetts reach back to its earliest settlers. Thomas Morton of the Mount Wollaston section of Quincy wrote in 1632 of seeing 60 “quails” in a tree from his house (Forbush 1927). Morton was also the first to misname the species because it looked so much like a similar species from the Old World. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Northern Bobwhite’s call was “as well known among the country folk as the morning carol of the Robin in the orchard, the drumming of the Ruffed Grouse in the woods or the reiterated plaint of the Whip-poor-will on the moonlit doorstone” (Forbush 1912). By 1911, despite considerable still-favorable habitat conditions, the species was already on its way out as a breeder in Massachusetts, no doubt in part a result of overhunting and restocking of non-natives (Griscom & Snyder 1955). Reforestation offered the bobwhite no favors as the century wore on.

Atlas 1 Distribution

In Atlas 1, bobwhites were present but scarce in the western part of the Commonwealth, becoming steadily more common the farther east and south one traveled. The Taconic Mountains and Marble Valleys had only just over half a dozen occupied blocks combined, while the forested Berkshire Highlands and Lower Berkshire Hills were totally devoid of bobwhites. Similarly small numbers of birds were present across the state to the eastern Worcester Plateau, where they were still thinly distributed. The Coastal Plains had 81 occupied blocks, more than four times the combined amount of all the western ecoregions. Even the well-settled Boston Basin had 10 occupied blocks, but the true center of distribution for the species was in the southeast. More than 60% of all Atlas 1 Northern Bobwhite records came from the Bristol/Narragansett Lowlands and the Cape and Islands.

Atlas 2 Distribution and Change

The shrinking trend of the Northern Bobwhite continued into Atlas 2, as the bird became increasingly difficult to find. No bobwhites were Confirmed as breeders anywhere north or west of the Bristol/Narragansett Lowlands. The few records from western and central Massachusetts most likely represented released birds rather than holdouts from the native breeding population. The Bristol/Narragansett Lowlands reported an alarmingly steep decline in bobwhite occupancy, from almost 90% in Atlas 1 to barely 5% in Atlas 2. This decline can be termed nothing less than catastrophic.

Atlas 1 Map

Atlas 2 Map

Atlas Change Map