Controlling imported fire ants, which are one of the leading causes of low quail numbers throughout the Southeast, will also help quail populations rebound. In fact, controlling fire ants in heavily infested areas could double quail populations.

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While the birds still thrive on large, intensively managed quail plantations in north Florida, their numbers have declined in south Florida where changing land-use patterns have altered their preferred habitat. In fact, the landscape has changed so much that extensive tracts of land have become completely unproductive for quail.

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