Chukars also aid in the dispersal and germination of invasive non-natives, such as cheat grass in North America. Also, they are susceptible to several avian diseases and might act as a vector for infections that can be passed from avian hosts to humans, such as Chlamydia, when raised in game-farming situations (Christensen 1996; Erbeck and Nunn 1999).
Alectoris chukar are not globally threatened. In most areas, populations are stable or increasing, though habitat loss and intensive hunting may affect some local populations in their native distribution. There may be some concern for wild populations due to the possibility of disease transmission from domestic chickens and turkeys. In North America, they have been managed for hunting since their introduction. In most areas, states try to increase hunting through liberal bag-limits and long hunting seasons to overcome low yields due to the inaccessible and remote nature of their habitat. Habitat management includes developing and improving water sources. Monitoring populations through different methods of collaring and radio-transmitters has been explored (Christensen 1996; Del Hoyo 1994; Waters et al. 1994).
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Chukars use a number or vocalizations in interactions that are divided into three categories: alarm social contact, agonistic, and sexual. The most common call is a low chuck, chuck, chuck used by both sexes that changes gradually to a chukar chukar and can be heard from long distances, hence the name chukar. Communication presumably also occurs through visual cues.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Other Communication Modes: duets
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Much research still needs to be done to determine the habits and needs of Alectoris chukar. Information is somewhat limited in many areas of their natural history. In addition, research can be done to determine the current relatedness of North American chukars to the original old world subspecies (Christensen1996).
Alectoris chukar was first introduced to North America in 1893 as a game species and provides revenue to state wildlife agencies through hunting. The difficult, steep, often remote terrain they occupy provides a challenge and thrill to hunters and the meat is considered very tasty. In Hawaii, chukars have been found to occupy an important niche once occupied by now extinct native birds; they aid in the dispersal and germination of seeds from important native plants and thus may be beneficial in restoring degraded ecosystems (Christensen 1996; Cole et al. 1995).
Chukars are generally opportunistic and forage on vegetation, including grass and forb seeds, green grass, forb leaves, and some shrub fruits, according to relative abundance and seasonal availability. On western rangelands, primary foods are seeds and foliage of introduced grasses and various forbs in the sagebrush community. Cultivated grains are used when available, but chukar habitat in North America is generally not near agricultural land. In Hawaii, different foods are available, but native shrub fruits and introduced herbaceous plants are still important. Young chicks primarily eat insects. Adults do not eat a significant number of insects, but are known to take locusts when available. All types of water sources are utilized by chukars and tend to dictate distribution during the hot summer months; they will stray farther from water in the winter when green vegetation is available (Christensen 1996; Del Hoyo 1994; Cole et al. 1995).
Animal Foods: insects
Plant Foods: leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Primary Diet: herbivore (Granivore )
Fourteen subspecies of Alectoris chukar are currently recognized. Populations in North America are thought to derive from an Indian subspecies, A. c. chukar, though several subspecies have probably intermixed. The native distribution ranges across mountainous areas of the Middle East and Asia from eastern Greece and southeastern Bulgaria through Asia Minor east to Manchuria China. The chukar has been successfully introduced to North America, Hawaii and New Zealand as a game species. In North America, successful populations have established themselves in mountainous, rocky, arid areas throughout the western states and the current distribution is centered around the Great Basin area, including Nevada, western Utah, southwestern Idaho, northeastern California, and southeastern Oregon. In the east, game farm birds are released for hunting, but successful populations have not established themselves (Christensen 1996; Del Hoyo 1994).
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Introduced ); palearctic (Native ); australian (Introduced ); oceanic islands (Introduced )
Alectoris chukar can be found in North America throughout the west in steep, mountainous, rocky locations in mixed habitat types. The Great Basin area of desert shrub is representative of their preferred habitat; climate is arid to semiarid, water is generally available from scattered sources, and temperature varies. The grazed and disturbed public lands provide plentiful grasses and seeds with scattered shrubs while the rocky terrain provides cover. In North America, such areas are generally inaccessible and not near cultivated land, though they will use such areas when available. Unsuccessful attempts to introduce the chukar into other areas of North America suggest that they are already established in most suitable habitat types (Christensen 1996).
Alectoris chukar is a medium-sized partridge. Males (510-800g) are slightly larger than females (450-680g) in length and mass. Plumage pattern is similar for both sexes and distinctive among game birds of North America. Chukars are gray-brown above with a buff belly. A dark black line across the forehead, eyes, and down the neck contrasts the white throat from the gray head and breast. Flanks are prominently barred black and white-chestnut and the outer tail feathers are chestnut. Bill, margins of eyelids, legs and feet are corral pink to deep red or crimson. Both sexes can have a small tarsal spur, but usually this is characteristic of males. Juveniles are smaller and are mottled brown and gray, with only slight brown barring on flanks. In its native habitat, coloring can vary geographically; birds in more arid areas tend to be grayer and paler (Christensen 1996; Del Hoyo 1994; National Geographic Society 1999).
Range mass: 510 to 680 g.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Chukars are monogamous. Pairs form in mid-March after a male performs a courtship display involving a head-tilt and a showing of his barred flanks. Both begin to call and participate in a "tidbitting display" pecking at various objects. During drought seasons, when food is scarce, breeding may be restricted to a few birds. Males guard the female from access by other males(Christensen 1996; Del Hoyo 1994).
Mating System: monogamous
Nests are simple scrapes, sometimes lined with grass or feathers, in rocky or brushy areas. They are difficult to find and are not well studied. Clutch sizes vary with site and environmental condition between seven and twenty one. Incubation lasts approximately 24 days and is usually a female activity. Hatching can occur from May until August, depending on the success of the first clutch. Broods average around 10.5 chicks, but fluctuate. Young are precocial, or highly developed upon hatching, and are capable of flight within a few weeks. They reach adult size in 12 weeks. Males are thought to remain until chicks are reared, though some are reported to leave after clutch completion and regroup with other males. Much remains to be learned about the reproductive habits of the chukar.
Breeding interval: Chukars breed once yearly depending on environmental conditions.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs from April to July in North America.
Range eggs per season: 7 to 21.
Average eggs per season: 10.5.
Average time to hatching: 24 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous
Young are cared for by their mother and perhaps father until they reach independence. Young are precocial, they fly within a few weeks of hatching and reach adult size by 12 weeks old.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; precocial ; pre-fertilization (Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Protecting: Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Female)
The chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar), or simply chukar, is a Palearctic upland gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It has been considered to form a superspecies complex along with the rock partridge, Philby's partridge and Przevalski's partridge and treated in the past as conspecific particularly with the first. This partridge has well-marked black and white bars on the flanks and a black band running from the forehead across the eye down the head to form a necklace that encloses a white throat. Native to Asia, the species has been introduced into many other places and feral populations have established themselves in parts of North America and New Zealand. This bird can be found in parts of the Middle East and temperate Asia.
The chukar is a rotund 32–35 cm (13–14 in) long partridge, with a light brown back, grey breast, and buff belly. The shades vary across the various populations. The face is white with a black gorget. It has rufous-streaked flanks, red legs and coral red bill. Sexes are similar, the female slightly smaller in size and lacking the spur.[2] The tail has 14 feathers, the third primary is the longest while the first is level with the fifth and sixth primaries.[3]
It is very similar to the rock partridge (Alectoris graeca) with which it has been lumped in the past[4] but is browner on the back and has a yellowish tinge to the foreneck. The sharply defined gorget distinguishes this species from the red-legged partridge which has the black collar breaking into dark streaks near the breast. Their song is a noisy chuck-chuck-chukar-chukar from which the name is derived.[5] The Barbary partridge (Alectoris barbara) has a reddish-brown rather than black collar with a grey throat and face with a chestnut crown.[6]
Other common names of this bird include chukker (chuker or chukor), Indian chukar and keklik.
This partridge has its native range in Asia, including Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and India, along the inner ranges of the western Himalayas to Nepal. Further west in southeastern Europe it is replaced by the red-legged partridge, Alectoris rufa. It barely ranges into Africa on the Sinai Peninsula. The habitat in the native range is rocky open hillsides with grass or scattered scrub or cultivation. In Israel and Jordan it is found at low altitudes, starting at 400 m (1,300 ft) below sea level in the Dead Sea area, whereas in the more eastern areas it is mainly found at an altitude of 2,000 to 4,000 m (6,600 to 13,100 ft) except in Pakistan, where it occurs at 600 m (2,000 ft).[2][7] They are not found in areas of high humidity or rainfall.[8]
It has been introduced widely as a game bird, and feral populations have become established in the United States (Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, high desert areas of California), Canada, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Hawaii.[9] Initial introductions into the US were from the nominate populations collected from Afghanistan and Nepal.[10] The birds are hunted across the dry, rocky Columbia Basin, especially in the vicinity of the Snake River in Washington and Oregon.[11][12] It has also been introduced to New South Wales in Australia but breeding populations have not persisted and are probably extinct.[13] A small population exists on Robben Island in South Africa since it was introduced there in 1964.[14]
The chukar readily interbreeds with the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa), and the practice of breeding and releasing captive-bred hybrids has been banned in various countries including the United Kingdom, as it is a threat to wild populations.[15]
The chukar partridge is part of a confusing group of "red-legged partridges". Several plumage variations within the widespread distribution of the chukar partridge have been described and designated as subspecies. In the past the chukar group was included with the rock partridge (also known as the Greek partridge). The species from Turkey and farther east was subsequently separated from A. graeca of Greece and Bulgaria and western Europe.[16][17]
The chukar has 14 recognized subspecies:[18]
This species is relatively unaffected by hunting or loss of habitat. Its numbers are largely affected by weather patterns during the breeding season. The release of captive stock in some parts of southern Europe can threaten native populations of rock partridge and red-legged partridge with which they may hybridize.[19][20]
British sportsmen in India considered the chukar as good sport although they were not considered to be particularly good in flavour. Their fast flight and ability to fly some distance after being shot made recovery of the birds difficult without retriever dogs.[21] During cold winters, when the higher areas are covered in snow, people in Kashmir have been known to use a technique to tire the birds out to catch them.[22]
In the non-breeding season, chukar partridge are found in small coveys of 10 or more (up to 50) birds. In summer, chukars form pairs to breed. During this time, the cocks are very pugnacious in their calling and fighting.[7][8][23][24] During winter they descend into the valleys and feed in fields. They call frequently during the day and especially in the mornings and evenings. The call is loud and includes loud repeated chuck notes and sometimes duetting chuker notes. Several calls varying with context have been noted.[25] The most common call is a "rallying call" which when played back elicits a response from birds and has been used in surveys, although the method is not very reliable.[26][27] When disturbed, it prefers to run rather than fly, but if necessary it flies a short distance often down a slope on rounded wings, calling immediately after alighting.[2][21][28] In Utah, birds were found to forage in an area of about 2.6 km2 (1.0 sq mi) and travel up to 4.8 km (3.0 mi) to obtain water during the dry season. The home range was found to be even smaller in Idaho.[29][30][31]
The breeding season is summer. Males perform tidbitting displays, a form of courtship feeding where the male pecks at food and a female may visit to peck in response. The males may chase females with head lowered, wing lowered and neck fluffed. The male may also perform a high step stiff walk while making a special call. The female may then crouch in acceptance and the male mounts to copulate, while grasping the nape of the female. Males are monogamous.[17] The nest is a scantily lined ground scrape, though occasionally a compact pad is created with a depression in the centre. Generally, the nests are sheltered by ferns and small bushes, or placed in a dip or rocky hillside under an overhanging rock. About 7 to 14 eggs are laid.[8][24][32] The eggs hatch in about 23–25 days. In captivity they can lay an egg each day during the breeding season if eggs are collected daily.[33] Chicks join their parents in foraging and will soon join the chicks of other members of the covey.[6]
As young chukars grow, and before flying for the first time, they utilize wing-assisted incline running as a transition to adult flight. This behaviour is found in several bird species, but has been extensively studied in chukar chicks, as a model to explain the evolution of avian flight.[34][35][36][37]
Chukar will take a wide variety of seeds and some insects as food. It also ingests grit.[28] In Kashmir, the seeds of a species of Eragrostis was particularly dominant in their diet[38] while those in the US favoured Bromus tectorum.[6] Birds feeding on succulent vegetation make up for their water needs but visit open water in summer.[39]
Chukar roost on rocky slopes or under shrubs. In the winter, birds in the US selected protected niches or caves. A group may roost in a tight circle with their heads pointed outwards to conserve heat and keep a look out for predators.[6]
Chukar are sometimes preyed on by golden eagles.[40]
Birds in captivity can die from Mycoplasma infection and outbreaks of other diseases such as erysipelas.[41][42][43]
The name is onomatopoeic and mentions of chakor in Sanskrit, from northern Indian date back to the Markandeya Purana (c. 250-500 AD).[44][45] In North Indian and Pakistani culture, as well as in Hindu mythology, the chukar sometimes symbolizes intense, and often unrequited, love.[46][47] It is said to be in love with the moon and to gaze at it constantly.[48] Because of their pugnacious behaviour during the breeding season they are kept in some areas as fighting birds.[8][23]
Chukar at Weltvogelpark Walsrode, Germany
Eggs
.jpg)
Juvenile
Chukar in Indian heraldry
.jpg)
Taxidermy
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) The chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar), or simply chukar, is a Palearctic upland gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It has been considered to form a superspecies complex along with the rock partridge, Philby's partridge and Przevalski's partridge and treated in the past as conspecific particularly with the first. This partridge has well-marked black and white bars on the flanks and a black band running from the forehead across the eye down the head to form a necklace that encloses a white throat. Native to Asia, the species has been introduced into many other places and feral populations have established themselves in parts of North America and New Zealand. This bird can be found in parts of the Middle East and temperate Asia.
