Chukars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chukar partridge or Chukar (Alectoris chukar) is in the pheasant family Phasianidae. The Chukar got its name from the noise they make that sounds chuck-chuck-chukar-chukar. The Chukar is a roundish 13”–14” long partridge with a light brown back, grey breast, and buff belly. Their face is white with a black gorget, rufous-streaked flanks, red legs and coral red bill. The shades do vary across different populations of the bird. The sexes, however, are similar, the female slightly smaller in size and lacking the spur. Other names for this bird include chukker (chuker or chukor), Indian chukar and keklik.
The Chukar partridge has its native range in Asia, including Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as well as the inner ranges of the Western Himalayas to Nepal. The species that were brought to US were from populations collected from Afghanistan and Nepal.