Chickens: desert partridge and chukar. Description of birds. Stone partridge or chukar: description of the bird chukar description
Chukars are also called stone partridges and stone hens. The birds received the very funny name “chukar” because of the “kek-kek-kek” sounds they make. At the same time, their voice is quite loud: abrupt, ringing screams can be heard even at a distance of one and a half kilometers. By the way, until recently, European and Asian chukars were considered a single species. One of essential features What made it possible to divide this species into two was their vocal repertoire.
Despite their external clumsiness, chukars are quite active and agile birds. They run well and, escaping from enemies, are able to quickly climb up a vertical rocky slope. Coloring also helps them avoid danger. Their motley stripes make them extremely difficult to spot among the rocks. They take off reluctantly, only as a last resort, but they maneuver very well in the air, either flapping their wings or gliding. Thus, these birds can travel more than 2 km.
BETWEEN GLACIER AND FOREST
Chukars lead sedentary image life. The range of these birds stretches from the Alps and Balkans in the west to the Himalayas in the east. You can meet the chukar in the Caucasus, Altai and Central Asia. Stone partridges usually live above forests, but below the snow line. They make their nests on the ground, usually on rocky slopes and in gorges, but always near water. Chukars give particular preference to areas with low-growing vegetation. The source of water for stone partridges is very important: in the hot season, the birds constantly walk or fly to watering places, and in winter they compensate for the lack of fluid by eating snow.
Although the chukars are not migratory birds, they still make vertical migrations, up and down the slopes. These migrations are seasonal. With the onset of autumn, chukars descend and in winter stick to windy slopes, where it is easier to find food. Well-fed birds are not afraid of the cold, and their winter plumage is quite thick and warm. It helps chukars and summer heat. Burning Sun rays sometimes they heat up upper layer feathers up to 50 ° C or more, but this heat does not pass inside, and the bird’s body temperature remains almost unchanged. However, in summer they prefer to wait out the midday heat in the shade, resting and swimming in the sand.
Chukars are active only during daylight hours. They wake up early and shout loudly, as if saying hello, after which they go out in search of food and to drink water. They spend the whole day in these activities. Mostly chukars walk along open rocks, almost never climbing onto tree branches.
EVERYTHING FOR CHILDREN
Chukars are monogamous birds. They begin forming pairs at the end of February or beginning of March. Having chosen a suitable place for arranging a nest, the couple digs a hole in the ground, which will soon become the place where future chicks will be born. The diameter of the nest does not exceed 20 cm, and its depth is about 9 cm. Birds line the hole with dry leaves and plant stems, and cover the top with branches or grass.
The female lays 10-12 eggs in a hole, which she incubates for 23-25 days. The eggs of rock partridges are ocher in color and covered with brown speckles.
The chicks hatch very quickly, often all the babies are born at the same time. Already 3-4 hours after birth, young chukars can follow their parents, who not only protect and warm the chicks, but also teach them to find food. In the first days of life, babies are very sensitive to low temperatures and often die in cold weather. In case of danger, they hide, and the female, pretending to be wounded, diverts the enemy’s attention to herself in order to lead him away from the brood.
The chicks develop and grow quite quickly: by the age of two weeks, the weight of young birds triples. Within ten days after birth, birds begin to fly short distances. Cases have been described when several broods were united into one large one, and such care was taken kindergarten several adult chukars at the same time. The number of birds in such flocks can reach 30 individuals, since the growing chicks live next to their parents for quite a long time, spending autumn and winter together.
DIET AND ENEMIES
Diet of rock partridges for the most part vegetable, and birds do not disdain either greens or seeds. Experts estimate that chukars eat plants belonging to more than 300 species. However, these birds cannot be called vegetarians: they also eat animal food, in particular insects and other small invertebrates.
Scientists have found that mollusks are an important component in the diet of rock partridges. Eating them helps birds compensate for the loss of calcium in the body. Females often suffer from a deficiency of this element after laying eggs. Calcium is also important for the proper formation of the skeleton in chicks.
Chukars have a great many enemies. They become victims of a wide variety of feathered and four-legged predators. Especially many chicks die, despite their ability to hide, turning into real invisible people. After particularly snowy and harsh winters the number of chukars declines sharply, but then usually recovers due to their fertility. The chukars are destroyed by their excessive curiosity. It is because of this that they often become easy prey for hunters who lure these partridges with the help of bright fabric stretched over shields.
Chukars are capable of not only making sharp sounds, they can also cluck, like chickens. IN mating season males display and try to attract females with loud “ho-ko-ko” calls.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF
Class: birds.
Order: Galliformes.
Family: Pheasantaceae.
Genus: chukars.
Species: Asian chukar.
Latin name: Alectoris chukar.
Size: height - about 35 cm, wingspan - up to 52 cm.
Weight: about 450-800 g.
Coloring: chest and top part body gray, throat white with a black stripe; On the sides there are stripes of black, gray, brown and reddish colors.
Life expectancy: up to 7 years, usually 4 years.
Spreading
Area
Distributed in the mountainous regions of Transcaucasia, Central Asia, Eastern Kazakhstan, Altai Territory and Tuva. Acclimatization experiments are being carried out in the Crimean and Transcarpathian regions. Outside Russia, it is also found on the Balkan Peninsula in Southwestern and Central Asia, and in Northern China.
Biotope
Keklik prefers to stay in mountain gorges with rocky areas, along the bottom of which rivers flow. Lives in the mountains; in summer it rises to the line of eternal snow, sometimes found on plains adjacent to mountains; it also extends into deserts along outcrops and hills. When deep snow falls in the mountains, it migrates down to areas with little snow. In the Caucasus it rises in the mountains up to 3000 m, in the Tien Shan - up to 2500 m. However, chukars are most numerous in the lower belt of mountains, up to a height of 1500 m, in areas with semi-desert vegetation.
Ecology
Behavior
It is not without reason that the chukar is called the stone partridge: its life is closely connected with stones, cliffs, and mountains. It inhabits deep gorges and rocky mountain slopes from the upper border of the forest to the eternal snow, river canyons in the mountains and foothills. Life in rugged terrain, where, due to the cover of rocks, enemies can sneak up close, has imbued the habits of this bird with peculiar features of speed of movement and caution. Strong legs with strong muscles make the chukar an excellent runner, and short, wide wings and strong pectoral muscles provide it with sudden take-off and fast flight over short distances. The chukar spends most of its life on the ground and rarely perches on bushes or trees. In case of danger, young birds hide, while adults first run, and then, with noise and clucking, break away and fly in a hasty and impetuous (but not fast) flight and soon descend, running away on foot. When feeding, they move up or along the mountainside, but never run down. The chukar leads a mostly sedentary lifestyle, but when snow falls in the mountains, it makes small vertical migrations, moving to areas with little snow.
Reproduction
Monogamous, begins to reproduce in the first year of life. In March, with the establishment of stable warm weather, winter flocks of chukars gradually disintegrate and the birds form married pairs.
The female makes a nest on the ground, usually on the southern slope of the asala, under a canopy of stones, under a bush, less often openly among stones. Chukars sometimes nest in the same nest for several years in a row. The hole in the ground is lined with sparse grass stems and hen feathers. Along the edges of the nest there is a cushion of small crushed stone or dry twigs. Individual pairs nest 100 - 150 m from each other, and sometimes 10 - 30 m. Having occupied their area, the birds protect it from the invasion of other chukars, and the female also participates in fights.
Rock partridge is very prolific. The female can lay from 7 to 22 eggs, with an average of 14-15 eggs per clutch. The eggs are pear-shaped, pale fawn in color with small specks. The weight of the eggs is 19-23 g. The eggs are apparently incubated by one female, for about 24 days. In some pairs, the male also takes part in incubation (males with hereditary spots were often caught). The female lays one clutch per year. If the nest dies, the female joins flocks of separately flying males and single females.
The chicks hatch weak and leave the nest after one or two days. The female takes them away from the nest immediately 150 m away. At two to three weeks of age, neighboring broods unite into flocks of 30-40 birds. In some cases, the male also stays with the brood.
Nutrition
The main food for chukars are seeds, fruits, leaves, green shoots, bulbs and tubers. various plants. They also eat animal food - insects, spiders, mollusks and other invertebrate animals. Water plays a very important role in the life of these birds. In the heat of summer, they regularly visit a watering hole two and sometimes three times a day, sometimes running 2 km or more to reach it.
Description
Keklik (rock partridge) - extraordinary beautiful bird. The coloration above is bluish-gray with pink and olive hues, the light buff throat and cheeks are bordered by a wide black stripe that runs through the eyes to the forehead. The crop and chest are bluish-gray, the abdomen is buffy. On the sides of the body there are wide black, red and white transverse stripes. The tail is red, with the exception of the central pair of tail feathers, which are the same color as the back. The legs and beak are bright red.
[Copyright Ukolov Ilya]
The female is smaller than the male and has no spurs on her paws. The weight of males in autumn is 500 - 630 g, females - 370 - 500 g.
The chukar is a very lively and cautious bird that spends its entire life on the ground. Sensing danger, he quickly runs up the slope, then noisily breaks off the ground, flies hastily with a clucking cry at the opposite side gorges.
The general tone of the rock partridge's plumage is ocher with a pinkish tint. Sexual and seasonal dimorphism in color is weakly expressed. The dorsal side is olive-gray. The forehead, the spot in the corner of the mouth, the stripe on the sides of the head, extending to the crop and surrounding the neck in front, are black. The chest is bluish-gray. The abdomen is ocher-yellow; approximately the same color and sides, on which black and chestnut transverse stripes stand out sharply. There is a naked ring around the eyes, the beak and legs are red, the eyes are dark brown. The upperparts of the young are brown with a reddish coating, the underparts are grayish with white speckles on the chest and crop. After the autumn molt, the outfit is approximately the same as that of adult birds, the plumage is only somewhat duller and paler.
The Asian chukar is a bird belonging to the pheasant family. This partridge has beautiful plumage and interesting pecking, so it has long been domesticated by humans and is even grown in industrial scale many countries of the world. There are 26 species of chukars, each of which has its own characteristics. Today we will talk about habitats, appearance, reproduction and nutrition of Asian birds.
The Asian rock partridge is very similar in body structure to the gray partridge, only much larger in size.
The chukar inhabits mountain ranges in the south of the country, from the Caucasus to Tuva and Altai. The bird is found in natural conditions of Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Eastern Kazakhstan, Altai Territory and Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Experiments on its acclimatization and successful breeding were carried out in the Transcarpathian and Crimean regions. Chukars also live on the Balkan Peninsula, in Central and South-West Asia, as well as in Northern China.
Such birds can be found in the gorges of mountainous areas, at the bottom of which there are rivers. With the onset of warm weather summer days The birds climb closer to the line of eternal snow. If a large amount of snow falls in the mountains, the chukar prefers to migrate lower - to where there is less snow. In the Tien Shan it lives at an altitude of about 2500 m, and in the Caucasus it climbs high into the mountains - up to 3000 meters. But the largest population of birds lives in areas where there are semi-desert cultures.
What does it look like
The Asian partridge has more variegated feather colors than the gray partridge. It is ash-gray and has an interesting bluish-pink tint. The bird has a dark stripe from the forehead to the ear, which becomes a semi-ring around the neck. The forehead itself is painted in classic black. The bird is characterized by a ring-shaped pattern located in the eye area. On the sides you can see transverse dark stripes, the belly is distinguished by a red color. The chukar has rich red paws and a small beak. Males have well-developed spurs, which cannot be said about females. The body length of this most common species of chukar is 35 cm, it usually weighs from 350 to 800 grams and has a wingspan of 47 – 52 cm.
In addition to the Asian chukar, other species are also known, for example, the European one. His body length is the same as Asian species. The European chukar has a body width of 50 to 55 cm. This bird's upper body and chest area are bluish-gray. The European chukar has a white throat with a black stripe on it. The European chukar has characteristic stripes of black, gray, red-brown and beige on its sides that run transversely. The European chukar has naturally got red-brown eyes, a red beak and legs of the same shade.
On European look The red partridge, another type of chukar, is very similar, as is the Barbary partridge. The Arabian chukar is visually more reminiscent of the Asian one.
Reproduction
In early spring, Asian birds, which are also bred on their own farms, form pairs with the arrival of spring. Males often engage in fights for their favorite female. During the mating season, the male strives to attract the attention of the female with loud cries and short flights. Both he and she build a nest. Sometimes birds tend to join together in one group, where there are several females.
Such a bird lays no more than 16 eggs, which have a clay-white shell with the obligatory presence of brown spots. Naturalists happened to find clutches of up to 24 pieces in some subspecies of rock partridge. The incubation period is 3 weeks.
Only having managed to dry out after birth, small chukars begin to look for food for themselves - insects, larvae, slugs. The plumage of young animals is brownish-gray in color, although in growth they already catch up with adults after reaching 3 months. By the age of 4 months, chukars undergo sexual demorphism, and from this moment it is possible to distinguish males and females. When the autumn months arrive, the chicks form flocks in which they stay throughout the autumn and winter. In the morning and evening, the birds get their food, then their roll call takes place in the mountains - loud cries of “ke-ke-lek” are heard. They became the reason for the name of the bird. The weight of mature females is 370 - 500 grams, and males - 500 - 630.
Nutrition
The Asian rock partridge, which is bred by many poultry farmers, feeds on food of plant origin. She likes to eat berries and fruits, buds, grains, and greens. The Asian chukar also produces various bulbs from the ground. A small part of a bird's daily diet consists of insects and other food of animal origin - such as beetles, caterpillars, and spiders.
Winter is a difficult period of the year for birds, because snow cover makes movement difficult and food inaccessible. Therefore, chukars fly at this time to the southern slopes, where there is less snow, and then descend to the plains. When snowy winters occur, a large number of birds are dying due to lack of food.
All subspecies of chukars are similar in their lifestyle. In the morning they take roll call, then go in search of food and water. With the onset of the heat of the day, they prefer to swim in the sand and relax. In the evening they fly out again to get food and go to the water. In case of danger, they begin to quickly run away, then fly low above the ground and rush in different directions.
Breeding of such pets at home is carried out in order to obtain excellent quality meat. Breeding birds at home occurs in cage or aviary conditions. The birds' daily diet consists of insects, green food, and chicken feed.
Video “Cocky Chukar”
Look how smartly this bird behaves with zoo visitors.
The build is dense and stocky. The head is small, the neck is thick. The beak is massive. Legs are strong; They walk and run well (but not in small steps like pigeons). They take off quickly and noisily. The wings are short, blunt, curved.
Small birds (about the size of a small hen or even a fledgling chick)
Keep in open dry biotopes
Gray partridge Perdix perdix ( Pheasant or Peacock)
Dl. 30, weight 410. Grayish-brown above, rusty transverse stripes on the sides; There is a brown horseshoe-shaped spot on the chest. They stay on the ground, run across in a scattered flock, rummage in the ground, and bathe in dust. They don't sit on trees. The take-off is strong, noisy, with flapping, the flight is fast, with frequent flaps. They fly low and for a short distance; before landing - sliding and turning to the side.
Grain fields interspersed with bushes, large forest clearings; floodplains Throughout the territory, all year; in winter in grain fields, on blowing fields; at deep snow They fly to feed to the outskirts of villages, to threshing floors and stacks of straw.
Common quail Coturnix coturnix ( Order Galliformes, Pheasant family, or Peacocks)
Dl. 19, weight 90. The smallest representative of chickens is from a thrush, short-tailed (tail down). Reddish-brown, with dark and light longitudinal streaks. There is a light eyebrow above the eye. In terms of habits and demeanor, it is a miniature chicken: they run easily, dig in the ground, scattering it with their feet, and bathe in dust. They are most active at night and at dusk. The flight is fast, straight, with frequent flaps; before landing they fly in a gliding flight. They don't sit on trees.
Grain fields, river valleys and meadow glades in the forest zone, forest-steppe, steppe; in warm weather.
