Vegetation and predator interactions affect northern bobwhite behavior

Abstract

Anti‐predator behavior can be costly to prey species and the consequences of these decisions may affect survival. Interactions between humans and hunted species can lead to behavioral shifts in the animal that affect hunter satisfaction and possibly fitness of the animals. We assessed the influence of multiple factors that may affect anti‐predator behavior in a commonly harvested game bird, the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), during October 2013–March 2015 on a private plantation in South Carolina, USA. We monitored bobwhite‐hunter interactions during hunting events (n = 40) using radio‐telemetry and behavioral observations. We investigated bobwhite anti‐predator behavior in 2 contexts, choice of evasive tactic and timing of tactic deployment (i.e., level of wariness), using a combination of linear regression and multinomial models in a Bayesian framework. Our results indicate the approach style of the hunter (i.e., pointing dog) and vegetation density affect the evasive tactic used. Dense vegetation at 0.6 m above ground height promoted hiding behavior of bobwhites, whereas approaching pointing dogs (i.e., not holding point) promoted flushing. Also, dense vegetation at 0.3 m above ground height and previous exposure to a discharged firearm elicited an earlier anti‐predator response. Our results imply that bobwhites make context‐specific decisions regarding hunter evasion, which may be a result of associative learning. Managers may be able to increase bobwhite‐hunter encounters and improve hunter satisfaction by maintaining vegetation structure between 0.6 and 1.3 m to promote hiding behavior throughout the hunting season. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

Sex‐specific resource use by wild turkeys in response to hunting activity

“…Our results contribute to the growing body of literature demonstrating that game species perceive hunters as predators and shift resource selection to avoid predation risk (Ordiz et al 2012, Gross et al 2015, McGrath et al 2018, Wightman et al 2023a). We specifically investigated how male resource selection changed prior to and within the hunting season in response to hunter distribution.…”

Effects of human and nonhuman predation risk on antipredator movement behaviors of an upland game bird

“…It is plausible that increased movement prior to contact with a hunter resulted from males responding to a call and traveling toward the call at a speed faster than average. Conversely, we offer that increased movements after a contact with a hunter were likely due to a fleeing response by males after they became aware of the hunter's presence (Courbin et al, 2015; Gross et al, 2015; McGrath et al, 2018; Middleton et al, 2013). Given that increased movements may result in demographic effects (Suraci et al, 2022), future studies should investigate potential relationships between variation in movement behaviors and survival of male turkeys.…”

Northern Bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ) breeding season roost site selection in a working agricultural landscape in Clay County, Mississippi

“…We hypothesized that at the third-order of selection, bobwhite would optimize trade-offs between concealment and unobstructed flight paths to escape predators. Previous research on coveys indicates that bobwhite make context-specific evasive maneuvers when disturbed by predators (McGrath et al 2018). McGrath et al (2018 also demonstrated that visual obstruction of vegetation influenced the type of evasive maneuvers used.…”