We are working to maintain and, where appropriate, restore the natural elements of the park and preserve. We hope you will join us in taking the long view toward protecting Avalon's ecological communities in perpetuity. We therefore ask your cooperation in observing our policies. Avalon Park & Preserve's Quail restoration program begun by Leonard Carolan. This is his story.

Surrogator with screen
We purchased a surrogator from a company in Kansas called Wildlife Management Technologies. The surrogator is an enclosed pen about 4’x8’x2’ with enough food and water to last five weeks. It also contains a 40lb propane tank, used to fuel a radiant heater set by a thermostat to help keep the young chicks warm for their first 3 weeks.

quail chicks
The chicks were purchased from John Wolf’s Game bird Hatchery in Pennsylvania. They were born on June 1st, 2010 at 7:00am. On the morning of June 3rd at about 8:00am we received a call from the Stony Brook Post Office that the 125 baby chicks had arrived. By 9:00am we had them safely in the surrogator.

There were 2 dead upon arrival. During the first week, we checked the chicks a few times. The evening of arrival we went back and found 4 more dead. A couple of days later we found another 12 had died. On June 10th , which was the end of week one, we moved the divider in the surrogator to the up position so the quail had access to the loafing area. This more than doubled the area they could move around in. We changed the temperature setting for the radiant fiber disk from 5 to 3, and we adjusted the water height to slightly above the chicks heads. No more chicks had died.

At the end of the second week (June, 17) we returned to the surrogator. We changed the temperature setting for the radiant fiber disk from 3 to 1, and we adjusted the water height to slightly above the chicks heads. Over the week only one more chick died. This brought our total dead to 19. Overall the quail seem to be doing very well.

Quail drinking
After the third week (June, 24) we turned off the propane and removed the Radiant fiber disk and heater assembly. We added 7 1/2 gallons of water to the 15 gallon tank, and again raised the water height. We sprayed water on the quail and set a tray with a mixture of soft soil and sand. Both of these procedures help activate the quail’s glands, which allows their feathers to shed water. One more bird had died.

Quail in loafing area
We’ve now had the birds one month (July 1). We sprayed the quail with water and replenished the tray with soil and sand. We added 5 more gallons of water and more food. We again raised the water height and removed one dead bird. Our total dead is now at 21.

Group at surrogator on release day
It is July 8th, the end of week 5, and our work with the surrogator is complete. It is time to release the quail. A group of us met at the barn at 9:00am this morning. This included other members of my family: Chrissy, Mike, Steve, and my father in-law Ralph. From Avalon we had: Kathy, Mark, Tom, John, and Doug. Marty from the Kruso’s Foundation, Luci and Steve from the Four Harbors Audubon Society and Hap from the Three Village Garden Club and Bird Sanctuary.

Quail walking out of surrogator
We broadcast some food that Marty had brought and left a small water feeder near the surrogator. I opened the side loafing area door and we waited for the quail to start walking out.

It took quite a while before the first quail stepped out, but once they did their was a steady stream of quail that followed. We took some pictures, but didn’t stay around too long.

My son and daughter went back with me that evening about 8:00pm. There were no quail in or even near the surrogator. We could hear them calling out in the field. It was a beautiful evening.

Avalon Park and Preserve
We released just over 100 birds. Hopefully they will not only survive, but will thrive in their beautiful new home here at Avalon Park. We received another group of chicks in mid July and started this process all over again.