Nonbreeding season survival of northern bobwhite in northeastern Colorado

Northern bobwhites have experienced population declines in Colorado and range-wide. Estimating vital rates can provide clues to factors limiting population growth rate. Although recent estimates of breeding season survival in the northwest corner of the northern bobwhite range are available, there have been no recent studies on nonbreeding season survival. We used radio-telemetry to estimate nonbreeding season (Oct–Mar) survival of northern bobwhites at two study sites in northeastern Colorado during winter 2019–2020 and 2020–2021. Based on our sample of 157 bobwhites, we found that survival was highly variable between years and was negatively affected by colder daily minimum temperatures and deeper snow depths. Seasonal (6-month) survival during the first year was 0.219 (SE = 0.040) and during the second year was 0.006 (SE = 0.005). We found no evidence that sex, age, or study site influenced survival, and very weak support for an effect of body mass. During our study, there were two e...