FFA'ers quail depredation project soars to state win
Simulated nests spotlight egg-eating predators

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Gilmer FFA'ers Rocky Latham and Heather Gardner will travel to Louisville, Ky., in October to compete at the national FFA agri-science fair during the organization's national convention. The duo became interested in quail habitat a few years ago, and that interest developed into their first-place-win project. -Staff photo by Montgomery

September 18, 2003 -- Ever wonder why the number of quail is declining in East Texas? Two Gilmer FFA students put the query to the test last summer by conducting a quail depredation science project that would lead them to the state FFA agri-science fair competition ... and a first place win.

High school seniors Heather Gardner and Rocky Latham have been interested in quail habitat since attending a Feather Forces Brigade in the summer of their sophomore year.

"It was a week of intense training on quail and turkey," Latham, who raises penned quails, said.

The training prepared the duo for the science fair project, which began in July 2002 when the pair constructed 40 simulated Bobwhite quail nests at a site east of Gilmer and monitored them each day for two weeks.

Twenty nests, each filled with six chicken eggs, were placed in a bottomland area and the other 20, filled with the same amount of eggs, were placed upland. Chicken eggs were used because they were more accessible than quail eggs, the students explained.

The nests were placed at 25- to 50-feet intervals in slight depressions lined with bunchgrasses and a canopy of dead grasses.

"What we found was we had zero survival in the bottomland and nine survived in the upland," Latham cited.

"This was a 23 percent survival rate, just to the point of hatching. Then it's a whole new world," Gardner added, "because they may not survive to adulthood.

The reason for the low survival rate, according to the students, was not fire ants as some believe.

"The eggs are too porous for ants. The reason (for their demise) was predators," Latham continued.

"One of the judges (at the competition) was a wildlife biologist and he tried to stump as with the question about ants, but we nailed that one."

Predators to the quail eggs come in the form of coyotes, raccoons, skunks, possums, and snakes.

Gardner said the most common predator are raccoons, but depending on whether the region is upland or bottomland, each have their own "most common" predators.

"Raccoons and possums got the eggs in the bottomland and snakes and skunks got the eggs in the upland," she added.

The duo explained they knew which predator destroyed the eggs by the shell remains, and distribution.

"We learned how to determine the predator for each nest in the Feathered Forces Brigade and our Ag Science 381 Wildlife Management class," Gardner stated.

The conclusion, according to Gardner and Latham, is without the perfect habitat and predator control, quail will not survive in East Texas.

With this knowledge, the students took the presentation to the state FFA agri-science fair at the Texas FFA 75th annual convention in Houston.

"I was nervous. My knees were knocking. But if I could, I would do it all over again. It was hard work but a good learning experience for me," Gardner said. "I realized this is for me. (Gardner and Latham plan to become wildlife biologist.) I really enjoyed this."

"It was lots of fun," Latham added.

The students made a perfect team, according to ag teacher Russell Thomas. "Heather prefers the written side and Rocky had rather talk."

The seniors advice for FFA students wanting to enter the science fair competition: "Know your background of your project."

"We nailed the interview and I think that's why we won," Latham added.

With the win at state competition, each received a $1,000 scholarship.

"That will really help with college," they said.

Gardner plans on attending the University of Alaska, and Latham's plans are to remain in Texas and enroll at Stephen F. Austin University.

The win also entitles a vie at the national competition in October at the National FFA Convention in Louisville, Ky.

The students said if it wasn't for their "awesome" ag teachers (Thomas and Sue Witt), this opportunity would not have presented itself.

"FFA has been a life-changing experience for me. It got me on track and to care about my grades," Gardner said.

"If it wasn't for FFA, I wouldn't be what I am now," Latham added.

"(Joining) FFA was the best decision we ever made," they concluded.