About 100 quail have been raised and released on Long Island in an effort to lower the number of ticks in the environment, a natural approach to combating a pest that can make people and their pets very sick. The young birds were let out at the North Hempstead Beach Park trail on Friday, part of a push to bring down the local tick population without chemicals.
The birds involved are young northern bobwhite quail, and they are more than just cute additions to the park. Organizers say each one can eat an average of 5,000 to 10,000 ticks, making the small birds a surprisingly strong defense against a population that fuels the spread of tick-borne disease across the region.
The release drew a crowd, with many people coming to the North Hempstead Beach Park trail on Friday to watch the birds be set free. Onlookers compared the quail to jet fighters as they took off into the wild, turning what is a serious public health effort into a moment the community could gather around and see for themselves.
Getting the birds ready was a group effort. Seventy-five volunteers helped raise the quail, including teachers who kept the eggs in their schools and built lessons around them for their students. One parent said their kindergarten son had watched quail eggs hatch in his classroom during the school year as part of the project.
The stakes behind the effort are significant, because ticks are carriers of Lyme disease and other illnesses. According to the State Department of Health, there were 18,704 cases of Lyme disease in New York State, excluding New York City, in 2024, and organizers hope the quail can help bring down the number of people who fall ill from tick bites.
Beyond fighting ticks, the release serves a second purpose by helping to reestablish the northern bobwhite, a species that has diminished on Long Island over the years. Supporters say the approach lets them tackle the tick problem while avoiding pesticides, keeping harmful chemicals out of the local environment as the birds go to work.