By Kelly Farrell

Special to the Daily News

Quail Creek Country Club earned back the community’s namesake with a recent bird release.

About 200 bobwhite quail, transported from a farm near Ocala, arrived at the North Naples golf community on March 17. Monitoring continues in an effort to permanently reestablish what was a native quail population there.

About 100 or more people heard of the quail’s reintroduction and gathered near the 18th hole of the Creek Course, not far from the clubhouse, to get a gander at the ground-dwelling species’ return to the neighborhood.

“We know a few things. We know we will get some flyaways. We know some are going to stay here. And, we know we’ll be feeding some wildlife,” said Brian Beckner, owner of Native Bird Boxes, leading the species’ experimental reintroduction.

The long-held plan to rebuild the native bird’s population hit the ground running when one particularly determined resident and board member, Gary Evans, spearheaded private fundraising in August.

The plan took flight about four months and $9,000 worth of fundraising later, but not without some ruffling of feathers.

While all the quail survived the few hours of transport on a warm day, riding in the close quarters of wooden crates placed on the bed of a pickup truck, some looked a bit worn, though many more appeared well.

Meanwhile many residents cheered, “Thank you Gary,” and yet another muttered “… yeah for the (expletive),” referring to white droppings excreted from the birds.

“Quail Creek is officially Quail Creek again,” said Chad Schultenover, the Club’s general manager, to the growing audience.

Within a few minutes, the residents, staff and members, all who had gathered to witness the birds’ release to the relative wild, dispersed, leaving behind the gentle patter of quails feet on the land and an occasional distinct call of a male quail to its covey.

Though butterflies and other species have been introduced to golf courses in similar ways, this is the first known release of quail to reestablish a native population, said Kirsten Conover, who was part of leading the Club’s ongoing Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary certification.

Unfortunately, from a quail perspective, snakes and other predators were not driven out of the 640-acre Quail Creek, leaving some wondering if they would become proverbial sitting ducks.

In their favor, the feral cat population has declined, said Kevin Leo, Quail Creek’s director of operations.

The hope is that now that development and renovations are complete, the remaining native scrub palmetto that line parallel fairways will provide enough cover and habitat for the birds, said Leo.

“I remember seeing herds of quail, flocks, running through the fairways and into the woods,” recalled Leo.

But that was back in the '80s when Leo was part of the community’s development, he said.

When Leo returned to Quail Creek decades later, in 2013, there were few if any quail remaining.

“It was one of the first things I noticed when I came back. The loss of the quail,” he said.

Now, the ground-nesting birds’ population may finally get back on course.

“We have a beautiful natural course here and it’s nice to know it’s populated with creatures that were here for a long, long, long time — long before golfers were here,” said David Eastaugh, a Quail Creek resident who also resides part-time in Canada.