Chukar

Description:

Small round bird. Short neck and tail. Grayish brown back and chest. Buffy belly. Bold black and chestnut barring on flanks. Black line through eye, down neck and onto chest. Throat white. Bill and legs red. Short, rounded wings. Juvenile similar to adult, but dull brownish gray with faint brown barring.

Habitat:

Rock outcroppings, cheat grass terraces and steep rim-rock canyon

Notes:

Colorado is hardly known for its population of the elusive Alectoris chukar, a game bird native to Eurasia and introduced to Colorado in 1937. Inhabiting some of the harshest mountain desert terrain from Baja California to northern Idaho, the reclusive game birds are widely dispersed and notoriously difficult to hunt.