Nutrition
You might be asking yourself "What does the bobwhite quail eat?" Lucky for you this nutrition page will tell exactly what this bird eats to survive and how it acquires its food.
Diet:
Bobwhite quails are omnivores. This means they will eat plants and animals to survive. However, their diet will change depending on the season and the type of food that is available.
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Also,due to the wide distribution of bobwhite quails in the United States and Mexico, many of them have different diets due to their location.
Regardless of the area bobwhite quails generally eat only insects, snails, spiders, earth worms, seeds and fruit. Although insects, snails, worms, and spiders are not a major part of their diet, they are a good source of protein and still important to their diet. Only about 30% of their diet will be insects, snails, spiders, and earth worms in the spring and summer when more insects are available. This number significantly drops to only about 5% in the winter. But the bobwhite quails in the southern portion of the United States do not have to worry about insects disappearing in the winter, so their diet of these organisms will stay around 30% year round.
70%-95% of their total diet is seeds and fruits. Again, the types of seeds and fruits the quail eats will vary depending on where this bird is located. For example bobwhite quails in Alabama eat mainly legume seeds, and bobwhite quails found in the corn belt eat mainly corn.
Acquisition of Food:
There are usually only two times a day you would be able to
observe the bobwhite quail eating. One of the times is early
in the morning and the other would be late afternoon to about dusk.
During feeding time the quails won't usually travel too far away
from their roosts because many quails prefer to walk than to fly.
Bobwhite quails will obtain food by using their feet to scratch the
ground to find food. And of course they use their beaks to not only
catch prey, but to also break open nuts and eat seeds. Although the
bobwhite quail does have wings, it barely flies. It rarely uses its wings to catch food, but most commonly uses it to evade
predators.
Nutrition is not only important for keeping this bird alive but it also gives them the energy to Reproduce