Hunters in Six Countries Complete Europe’s First Simultaneous Quail Census

Hunters, technicians and game managers from six countries have completed the first simultaneous European quail census in history, launching a pilot scientific project designed to obtain more accurate data on the status of the species.

The initiative involved participants in Spain, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and Portugal under the banner of the European Quail Monitoring Days, held on June 2 and 6.

The work followed the SEC methodology, a specific quail monitoring system designed by the University of Barcelona and applied at large scale in recent years through Spain’s Coturnix project.

A cross-border effort by scientists and hunters

The data collected during the monitoring days will be analysed through an international collaboration between scientific bodies and the hunting sector.

Participants include Fundación Artemisan, France’s Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d’Oiseaux, the Office Français de la Biodiversité and hunters from the participating countries, coordinated by their national and regional hunting federations through the European Federation for Hunting and Conservation, FACE.

Organisers say it is the first initiative of its kind, using an active scientific method intended to overcome the limitations of passive monitoring systems that have traditionally been used for quail.

According to those behind the project, passive methods are not sufficiently effective for monitoring the species because of its particular ecological, behavioural and reproductive characteristics.

Although data from the different countries are still being compiled, the first information received from Spain, France and Italy points to a successful start for the project, which is intended to be repeated in future years.

The initiative comes at what organisers describe as a critical moment, with major decisions being made despite a lack of precise information on the real status of the species.

Results from Spain

In Spain, within Mutuasport’s Coturnix project, with scientific coordination by Fundación Artemisan and support from the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation, 31 study areas were monitored across a total of 310 listening points.

Of those, 130 points were monitored on June 2 and 180 on June 6.

In total, 250 quail were counted during passive monitoring, while 654 were detected during active monitoring using the SEC method. A further 100 birds were captured and ringed.

The Spanish work also received support from several public administrations, including the regional governments of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Andalusia, Castilla y León, Aragón and La Rioja.

France and Italy report early data

In France, the quail monitoring project was carried out by several regional federations. During the June 2 and June 6 sessions, 327 and 222 monitoring sessions were completed respectively.

French teams detected 343 quail using the passive method and 718 using the active method.

In Italy, the Italian Hunting Federation, FIDC, successfully carried out monitoring at 218 points across three study areas. The teams detected 62 quail using the passive method and 108 using the active method.

Results from Romania, Bulgaria and Portugal are still pending.

Passive monitoring detects only a fraction of quail

The data collected so far indicate that passive monitoring detects only around 25 to 30 percent of quail, compared with the higher effectiveness of active methods.

Organisers say these findings are consistent with scientific studies warning that passive methods, which have helped guide management decisions for the species in Europe, may underestimate quail numbers and lead to inappropriate measures.

The organisations behind the initiative thanked all participants for their efforts, describing the project as a turning point in applied hunting science and in international cooperation to improve biodiversity management and the conservation of wild species.