Appearance
Average adult weight: 6 ½ ounces. Length: 9-11 inches. Have distinctive facial markings consisting of throat patch and streaks above both eyes. On males the markings are white but on females they are a buff color. Plummage is mottled brown to serve as camoflage.
Food
Quail feed usually in the morning or in the evening. Foods eaten are seeds from corn, soybeans, Korean lespedeza, common ragweed, smartweed, foxtail, sassafras, sumac, partridgepea, poison ivy, and wild grape as well as insects. | 
Bobwhite Quail |
Habits and Breeding
Quail are a forest edge species, originally living where forest and prairie met and in natural openings. After farmers cleared the land, their numbers increased greatly. Ideal bobwhite habitat is those places where farmland, fencerows, brush, meadows and cropland provide cover.
Breeding can begin as early as March in Ohio. Most are mated by late May. The nesting pair build a grass-roofed nest in a shallow depression on the ground. Either early maturing species of grass or the remains from the previous year are used. The best nesting spots are in areas of shrubs or briars with moderately dense spots of herbaceous (plants whose stalks decay over the winter) and grassy vegetation. Thick stands of grass tend to be avoided.
From 10 to 25 eggs are laid, with 15 being the average number. The eggs are nearly pear-shaped and pure white in color. The young hatch in 23 days and leave the nest as soon as their down is dry. They fly at 2 weeks and resemble the adults at 15 weeks. Both the male and the female take care of the young until the "fall shuffle" when the broods scatter and mix with others who have done the same. This behavior reduces the chances of genetic inbreeding that would harm the population.
ODNR Publication 14
Appearance
Adult weight: male average-40 ounces; female average-30 ounces. Length(including tail): male, 33-36 inches; female, 20-22 inches. The cock, or male, pheasant has a bluish-green head with a red cheek patch and usually a white ring around his neck. The back feathers are reddish brown and fade into the same bluish green on the lower back while the breast feathers are copper or maroon. The wings are the same color as the body with the color getting lighter toward the tip. The hen is smaller and usually a dull tan with brown and cream markings.
Food
The chicks eat large amounts of insects to supply the large amounts of protein needed for their rapid growth. Adults also eat insects in the summer and fall, but most rely on corn as well as the seeds from wheat, oats, soybeans, foxtail, smartweed, ragweed, buckwheat, grapes, poison ivy, bittersweet, sumac, dogwood, wild plum, raspberries, and blackberries.
Habits and Breeding
The pheasant is an exotic (non-native) bird first introduced from Asian in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The ringneck in common in Ohio north and west of the unglaciated plateau, which means in the north western two-thirds of the state. The highest populations are found in the southwest section of the state.
Pheasants are flat-land birds, thriving where farming is intensive as long as there is adequate cover for nesting and sufficient food and cover for the winter. In the winter, they are often found near standing corn, brushy woodlots or dense borders around fields.
In the spring, the male displays to attract females and to warn other males to stay away from his territory. The size of a males harem varies depending on how many females are in the area.
The hen will build her nest on the ground in low vegetation such as grass or alfalfa. Over a period of about two weeks, the hen will lay her clutch of about 6-18 light brown or grayish eggs, 12 being the average number. The eggs will hatch in 23 days and the young leave the nest as soon as their down is dry. The will be able to fly in 10 days and resemble the adults in 15 weeks.
ODNR Publication 92
Appearance
Adult weight: 3/4 -1 pound. Length: 12 inches. The body of the gray partridge is very rounded and plump. The head is round and the wings are short and rounded as well. The beak is small and blunt for picking up small seeds. When in flight, the chestnut colored underside of the tail is clearly visible. Both sexes have a chestnut colored patch on the breast, but it is larger and more distinct on the male. The face is chestnut colored with the neck being gray. The breast is light gray with darker barring while the back is dark gray. The wings are barred with brown.
Food
The adult partridge eats leaves and seeds, particularly those from grasses, various cereal grains, clover and chickweed. The young eat bugs, beetles, caterpillares, aphids and other small invertabrates for the first 3 weeks of their lives then switch to adult foods.
Habits and Breeding
The gray partridge is another exotic species of game bird introduced into North America in the late 1800s. It prefers open lowlands, especially in shrubby areas around farmland that resemble the hedgerows between European fields.
They spend most of the year in a small flock called a covey which usually numbers up to 15 birds. The covey contains at least one family group, but sometimes more, and may have unpaired adults as well. In late winter, the covey breaks up and mixes with other covies where unpaired birds find mates.
The nest is usually made in a hollow lined with plant matter, in a hedgerow, or in tall grass on a bank. The gray partridge has one of the largest clutch sizes of any bird, frequently laying up to 20 eggs. The female sits on her eggs for 3-3 ½ weeks and often she and/or the eggs will fall to predators. If she survives, she will often make another nest. The young are able to move and feed themselves after 1 day and fly at around 2 weeks.
Wildlife Fact-file packet 91
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