Setting the Table for Iowa's Favorite Farmland Birds: Bobwhite Quail and Ring-necked Pheasants

Perhaps no wild birds captivate the imagination of rural Midwesterners as much as the bobwhite quail and ring-necked pheasant. Both species wield an iconic call – the “bob-WHITE” whistle of male bobwhites and the conspicuous crowing of the rooster pheasant. Both species are often visible on a country drive thanks to their affinity for feeding and dusting on crop-field and roadside edges. Both species flock during winter and offer beautiful reprieves from otherwise life-less winter landscapes. Unfortunately though, both species share one more commonality – there are fewer of them in Iowa today than there was throughout most of the 20th century....