OVERHEARD: When the Bobwhite Sang
The bobwhite makes both a song and question with its name. This is appropriate, since questions abound about this bird. Long Island is at the northern edge of the bobwhite range, but they have disappeared. Where did they go? Will they come back? Locals haven’t heard their familiar song for decades. Even its name — northern bobwhite, bobwhite, common bobwhite, quail, or partridge — is tensile and open to interpretation.