bobwhites

The first bird I learned by name was the bobwhite, a species of quail, when I was around age 4 in the late 1950s. We lived in south-central Louisiana near what was a field of varied grasses, and thistles close to five feet tall, I'd guess. Sometimes in the early morning, you could hear the bobwhites. Our mother occasionally would initiate the call from the open kitchen window, and wait to hear the response. I'm pretty sure her whistled call was only two notes: 'bob-white!'  But I also remember a call that was three notes: 'bob-bob-white!'

When I lived in rural central Texas - around 1980, there was a covey of bobwhites near our house. They nested near the ground and sometimes would walk in line, a parent with three or so juveniles trotting behind. The invasion of fire ants came a year or two later, and it wasn't until after 2000, after the fire ant population stabilized, that I heard another bobwhite.