702 Featured Specimen

Chukar partridge

Alectoris chukar

A rocky-slope partridge with a black necklace, red bill, red legs, and bold barred flanks.

Range

Habitat range map

Native range Occasional / Transient

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Uses rocky hillsides, dry grassland, semi-desert, and mountain scrub, often near water in rugged terrain.

Gray body, white throat, black collar, red bill and legs, and strongly barred black, white, and chestnut flanks are distinctive.

Coveys walk across slopes, running uphill or gliding into valleys when alarmed. Calls are loud and repeated.

Grass seeds, leaves, shoots, fruit, and insects are picked from the ground.

Ground nests are hidden under rocks or grass. Chicks walk soon after hatching and forage on dry slopes.

Introduced widely as a gamebird, it has established populations in places such as North America and New Zealand.