Bringing a Desert Spirit Back to the Grasslands
The Challenge
The Masked Bobwhite is one of the most critically endangered birds in North America. Due to extreme habitat degradation, this beautiful, secretive ground-dweller was largely lost from its native ranges in Arizona and northern Mexico.
What Sutton is Doing
Sutton is a vital partner in an international recovery coalition. Inside our specialized, bio-secure breeding facility, we carefully manage the genetic diversity of our flock. We incubate, hatch, and raise hundreds of quail chicks each year, preparing them for the ultimate goal: release into carefully managed wildlife refuges to rebuild self-sustaining wild populations.
Masked bobwhite chicks hatched at the Sutton Center are paired with a bobwhite foster parent before being transferred for release on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Sasabe, Arizona. With the assistance of our conservation partner LightHawk, family groups are flown from Oklahoma to Arizona each year.
