Some Interesting Visitors

Yesterday morning I saw an unusual bird eating some seeds besides the car. It was a bird I had not seen before.



I asked around and even posted the photograph to determine the identity of the bird. This morning I received an email with the information. The bird in question is a Chukar.

As you can read:

This partridge has its native range in Asia from Pakistan and Kashmir, into the Republic of India (Himachal Pradesh and Punjab states). And Afghanistan in the east to southeastern Europe in the west, and is closely related and similar to its western equivalent, the Red-legged Partridge, Alectoris rufa. It has been introduced widely, and became established in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Hawaii. In Great Britain, hybrids between this species and the also introduced Red-legged Partridge are common.

So it is found in North America but how it got to this part is a mystery. Apparently they were imported as game birds so some how these birds managed to escape and are hiding out.

I said "Visitors" because now there are three of them:





What they seem to enjoy are the pears that have fallen off the tree and bugs.

Quite an interesting sight.