Chasing Chukars

I'm not sure where these Chukars came from, but they are in the wild and for the purposes of my Americas year of birding, I consider them countable for my list.  The biggest obstical to overcome was findng them a couple of days after they were reported on OntBirds.  The location was pretty easy to find, and when I arrived there were two birds that could have been female Chuckars or juvinile Wild Turkeys making their way through the tall vegitation at the bottom of a hill.  Though I got a couple of photos, they were pretty inconclusive.

I kept walking along the path to the north and eventually came to a corner, with a field in the distance and as I turned, a bird flushed, and it was unmistakable.  A football shaped, chunky quail like bird flew across the path and into the high vegitation.  I could clearly see the black mask across the eye, but it was gone before I could even think of taking a photo.  Still it was the Chukar, and a new bird for the ABA Life List: 624 and new for the year: 502.

I went back today and finally got a photo of a pair of them in a storm retention pond.  The pond is at the bottom of an embankment at about a 20 degree slope, which is exaclty the environment Chukars like to be in.   Perhaps there are females around and the birds will breed in the area, giving the new neighborhood a fine exotic bird to see as people walk the path.  Or, as many people fond of game birds are wont to do, maybe just good eats.