The Saga of the Ontario Gray Partridge

Back in 2012, I did a Big Year and my only look at a Gray Partridge was from the car as it stood close to the highway in a farmer’s field.  Ever since then I have spent a day or two here and there each winter, when in the Ottawa area, searching for them in vain.  They are a non-migratory species, but are rarely, if ever, seen outside of the winter months.  Introduced to North America in the 1800’s and known as the Hungarian Partridge, they were a popular game bird for decades.  In more recent times, as farming changed, and land for them diminished, they have seen a severe reduction in population.  For a while, there were populations in the Brantford area of Southern Ontario, though it’s been years since regular reports of them around the Brantford Airport have been seen.  Nowadays, the best spots are on the outskirts of Ottawa and as farmland turns into housing developments, they may once again be at risk in Southern Ontario.  

With that in mind, I made my way to Ottawa, after visiting with my daughter in Kingston last week, hoping to finally see them up close and get photos.  Thanks to a report on OntBirds and eBird locations, I knew a good starting point, behind the houses on Nonius St. in Kanata.  I arrived by 8:30 am and other than a few tracks in the front yard, leading between the houses, there were no signs of partridges, let alone any avian life.

     If you look really closely, you can see the footy-prints in between the houses:

I had a lot of eBird map pins on my phone, so after about an hour of wandering the neighborhood, I drove to some other locations and thought I hit the partridge jackpot, not with a grove of pear trees, but with partridge tracks going in and out of the foliage.  I figured all I had to do was follow the tracks in the correct direction and I’d find or flush some game birds.  No such luck. 

                 

      A closer look at Gray Partridge footy-prints in the snow in a nearby field:

                       

 It was getting close to noon, and I had given myself until lunchtime to find the birds before I had to drive 4-1/2 hours back to Toronto, so I decided to go full circle, kind of like the partridge tracks in the snow, and head back to the housing development and the snow-covered backyards behind numbers 301-303 Nonius St.  As I pulled up behind the houses, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There they were, seven or eight Gray Partridges, their beaks buried in the snow.  I took a few photos from the car and then pulled over and got out and enjoyed watching them for about half hour as they made their way between the houses, to the front yard, returned to the backyard and vanished as mysteriously as they had appeared.  A special thanks to Gregory Zbitnew of the Ottawa Field Naturalists, for his help in guiding me to the correct location, so I could finally see my partridges and have my photos too.

     And the stars of this blog, the Gray Partridges their own selves:

Afterwards, I found a wonderful little diner in Stittsville, called The Main Street Cafe, where they have great coffee, and homemade jam and baked beans to go with their tasty breakfast special.  When in the Ottawa area, do drop by, won't you.

          

         

 This weekend, it was warm and sunny enough for Sue and me to take a walk down by the lake and we were lucky enough to come upon a group of birders and photographers who had discovered a beautiful Snowy Owl perched on the edge of an ice-covered jetty on the edge of Lake Ontario at Colonel Sam Smith Park.  I would have loved to have had this kind of light to photograph the partridges, rather than the flat, overcast light I had that day.