It’s not easy being a bobwhite quail. Like many species, that iconic game bird has suffered from fragmentation and loss of its grasslands habitat, especially in the last fifty-some years. And its predators are legion, ranging from skunks to raccoons to snakes to, especially, aerial threats like the Cooper’s hawk, which can swoop down and snatch a quail with its talons in midair. “A quail’s got to be an elite athlete every day,” says Ronald Kendall, a professor of environmental toxicology at Texas Tech University. “Everything’s trying to eat him.”