Throughout the month of May, students in the second, third, and fifth grades at Maud S. Sherwood Elementary School in Islip partnered with the Suffolk County Environmental Center at Seatuck. Through the program “Operation Quails,” the students were tasked with helping to repopulate the bobwhite quail on Long Island.

Two hundred eight quail eggs were divided among four incubators. The students and their teachers were responsible for keeping the eggs safe and heated to the proper temperature. After 23 days in the incubator, the first eggs began to hatch and the students moved the newly hatched quails into a new home with a heat lamp to keep them warm. Once all of the eggs were hatched, the students returned the quails to Seatuck, where they will live.