Population Ecology Survival of Mountain Quail Translocated From Two Distinct Source Populations RONALD J. TROY, Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209-8007, USA PETER S. COATES, 1 U. S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Dixon Field Station, Dixon, CA 95620, USA JOHN W. CONNELLY, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, 1345 Barton Road, Pocatello, ID 83204, USA GIFFORD GILLETTE, Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209-8007, USA DAVID J. DELEHANTY, Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209-8007, USA ABSTRACT Translocation of mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus) to restore viable populations to their former range has become a common practice. Because differences in post-release vital rates between animals from multiple source populations has not been well studied, wildlife and land managers may arbitrarily choose the source population or base the source population on immediate availability when planning translocation projects. Similarly, an understanding of the optimal proportion of individuals from different age and sex classes for translocation would benefit translocation planning. During 2006 and 2007, we captured and translocated 125 mountain quail from 2 ecologically distinct areas: 38 from southern California and 87 from southwestern Oregon. We released mountain quail in the Bennett Hills of south-central Idaho. We radio- marked and monitored a subsample of 58 quail and used them for a 2-part survival analysis. Cumulative survival probability was 0.23  0.05 (SE) at 150 days post-release. We first examined an a priori hypothesis (model) that survival varied between the 2 distinct source populations. We found that source population did not explain variation in survival. This result suggests that wildlife managers have flexibility in selecting source populations for mountain quail translocation efforts. In a post hoc examination, we pooled the quail across source populations and evaluated differences in survival probabilities between sex and age classes. The most parsimonious model indicated that adult male survival was substantially less than survival rates of other mountain quail age and sex classes (i.e., interaction between sex and age). This result suggests that translocation success could benefit by translocating yearling males rather than adult males, perhaps because adult male breeding behavior results in vulnerability to predators. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. KEY WORDS Idaho, mountain quail, Oreortyx pictus, radiotelemetry, reintroduction, source population, survival, translocation. The process of translocation has become common in avian management, particularly for gallinaceous birds (Wolf et al. 1996, Lamont 2009), but information on the process of translocation success (defined as establishment of a viable population by moving animals from one location to another) is limited. Decisions during the planning stage of transloca- tion efforts may influence subsequent success in restoring a population. For example, wildlife managers often capture birds from multiple source populations and release those birds at the same restoration site, something that may explain differences in post-release performance among individuals (Pope and Crawford 2004, Frair et al. 2007). The current range of mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus) populations are restricted to western North America from Baja Mexico to southern British Columbia and east into Nevada and Idaho. Mountain quail populations are in de- cline across the eastern portion of their range (Howard 2003). In Idaho, mountain quail were once distributed across most of the western portion of the state, but are now classi- fied as a ‘‘species of greatest conservation need,’’ and at risk of possible extirpation from the state (Brennan 1990). During the last 33 years, wildlife management agencies throughout California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, and Washington have been using translocation as a means of restoring mountain quail populations in the western Great Basin. In aggregate, these restoration efforts have resulted in the translocation of >3,000 mountain quail originating from source populations in 2 ecologically distinct regions (Vogel and Reese 2002; D. Budeau, Oregon Department of Fish and Game, personal communication). The 2 regions are 1) the Coso and Argus Mountain Ranges within the Mojave Desert of southern California and 2) the Pacific Coastal Ranges of southern Oregon. Research that compares survival and other vital rates be- tween individuals originating from distinct source popula- tions is limited. Furthermore, choices in the number of individuals per age and sex class in translocation programs often are arbitrary or based on expediency. Studies that focus Received: 1 August 2011; Accepted: 14 December 2012 Published: 11 April 2013 1 E-mail: pcoates@usgs.gov The Journal of Wildlife Management 77(5):1031–1037; 2013; DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.549 Troy et al.  Survival of Translocated Mountain Quail 1031