Chuk, chuk, chukars!
Occasionally I will be outside and be overcome by the strange feeling that something is missing. It might take me a minute to realize that I am not hearing the sound of chukars but by then, they have usually started up again with their constant “chuk, chuk, chuk”.
It is hard to understand what the advantage of constant communication is to a prey bird, but the value of the conversation they have amongst themselves must outweigh the risks of giving away their location to predators.
The population of chukar partridges on our place varies by year and by season but the cycle remains the same.
One adult chukar with 23 chicks.
The young chicks hatch in early to mid-July, considerably later than most birds around here. Most books say the brood size is between 10 and 20 but I have seen quite a few that start out even larger with several young usually getting picked off by predators within the first couple weeks despite their lack of eye-catching features at that age. After a few days, the broods will begin mixing and mingling and it becomes harder to tell which chicks belong to which adults.
After a month or so, the young birds begin to take on the distinctive features of the adult birds.
Adult chukars are beautifully outfitted in sophisticated colors and striking “masks”.
The physical features of our property are well suited to these birds, originally imported to the western states from the Middle East as game birds late in the 1800’s. The sandstone cliffs provide small caves and overhangs and the spread out juniper bushes offer additional protection from the elements and raptors swooping in from above.
A covey of chukars enjoying the sun a couple days ago.
Chukars struggle in powdery snow. They much prefer hiking to flying and their round little bodies do not work well as snowplows. Luckily for them, our snow days are pretty limited and we rarely get enough to cause them real problems.
Three chukars during an unexpected October snowstorm a couple weeks ago.
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