Steve, in the Southeast, it's fragmentation of habitat and that's only gotten worse and worse here since the '50s. I'm not sure what the problem is in the West, maybe global warming, maybe something else like an intestinal parasite which started in the East and moved West.

When I bird hunted in Tamaulipus State in Northeast Mexico back in the '80s I would kick aside the brown grass in the huge pastures we hunted and find a multitude of dried weed seeds which carry over from year to year in that dry climate. I don't think it's fragmentation of habitat out West. I don't know what it is, but I can verify what Stan said about our quail pulling a disappearing act over the last 30 years...Geo

PS: My solution; poultry!

Last edited by Geo. Newbern; 02/13/13 01:01 PM. Reason: added post-script