Tweeters,

I won't take up valuable bandwidth by repeating much of the current
thread on cats v. quail, but Dennis Paulson asked "I wonder what the
status of this species is in cities in Oregon. . . ." My recollection
of Portland when I lived there 15 years ago was the species was becoming
increasingly rare in developed areas. It took quite an effort to
find them in the city. I imagine that has not changed for the better.
Rural areas, such as Sauvie Island, did have decent numbers of them.

Here in Bend, in Central Oregon, we have quite a few quail, but these
are concentrated in areas with a lot of brush and undeveloped land. I
live in a residential area near downtown and we still have quail, but
there are many vacant lots around us. I have noticed that with new
subdivisions sprining up a few blocks away, numbers have decreased.
Interestingly in the late 60's Mountain Quail occurred in my neighbor-
hood (according to a birder neighbor) but when the area was built up
in 1969-70, they disappeared entirely.

California Quail are not native to Bend, either, and the one factor that
really affects their numbers is the harshness of the winters. After
a really harsh winter, it can take several years for their numbers to
rebound. I would say that cats here have a minimal overall effect on
the population.

Tom Crabtree

--
Tom Crabtree tcrabtre at ednet1.osl.or.gov
1667 NW Iowa Home (503) 388-2462
Bend, OR 97701 Work (503) 389-7723
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