Northern Bobwhite

Northern bobwhite announce themselves before you ever see them — that clear, whistled "bob-WHITE" carrying across a field edge. Up close, males wear a crisp white throat and eyebrow stripe outlined in black; hens carry the same pattern in soft buff-brown instead. The rest of the bird is mottled brown, black, and white, tailor-made for disappearing into ground cover. These are ground birds through and through: nesting in a shallow scrape, laying a dozen or more eggs at a time, and scratching through leaf litter for seeds, insects, and green shoots. They rarely fly far or migrate, sticking close to home in tight little bands called coveys. Around 20 subspecies fill grassland, open woods, and brushy country across the eastern and central reaches of North America.