Gray Partridge

Gray Partridge, both sexes; Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.

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Gray Partridge, both sexes; Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Reproduction
8. Conservation Status
9. Other Names

Introduced from Eurasia, the Gray Partridge can be found in flat agricultural land along the length of the Canada-United States border.

Cool Facts

• Gray Partridge hens produce some of the largest clutches of any bird species. Clutch size can range up to 22 eggs, and averages 16 to 18.

Description

• Size: 30-33 cm (12-13 in)
• Wingspan: 53-56 cm (21-22 in)
• Weight: 385-500 g (13.59-17.65 ounces)

Small chicken-like bird. Short neck and tail. Grayish brown back and chest. Dark reddish U-shaped belly patch. Chestnut barring on flanks. Face and throat reddish. Bill and legs gray. Short, rounded wings. Tail chestnut.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female without belly patch.

Immature

Juvenile dull pale brown with darker streaks and spots, lacking most of the adult pattern.

Similar Species

• Chuckar has black necklace, has whitish throat, dark barring on flanks, a red bill and legs, and lacks dark belly patch.
• Mountain Quail has a dark throat, white barring on flanks, and a long head plume.
• Smaller than any grouse.

Sound

Call a scratchy "kuta, kut, kut, kut."

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About the map

Summer Range

Resident from Washington and southern British Columbia eastward to southern Ontario and northern New York, southward to Nevada, Nebraska, and northern Illinois. Native to western and central Eurasia.

Habitat

Primarily cultivated fields and grasslands with hedgerows; in Old World, more widespread in open country.

Reproduction

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Open-eyed and covered in down, able to leave the nest and feed itself.

Conservation Status

Still introduced in some areas. North American populations declining in some areas.

Other Names

Perdrix grise (French)
Hungarian Partridge, European Partridge (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

Carroll,J.P.1993.Gray Partridge (Perdix perdix). In The Birds of North America, No.58 (A. Poole and F.Gill,Eds.).Philadelphia:The Academy of Natural Sciences;Washington,D.C.: The American Ornithologists? Union.