[EBB Sightings] Perplexity about Chukar sightings

	

Great info! Thank you. The one I saw didn't have the ring but he did 
look a little raggedy around the face, like a captive might. 
Otherwise a handsome bird. Is there any evidence that there is a 
surviving year-round population?

At 10:06 AM -0700 10/25/06, Benavidez, Stephanie wrote:
>Several years ago in the late 90's some person or persons maybe with good
>intentions but not understanding the dynamics of releasing farm raised
>chukars set loose several crates of chukars in the Oakland hills on EBRPD
>parks. Also from time to time there tends to be a release and We (Oakland &
>EBRPD staff) are interested in talking to these folks. What happened the
>first time and it is archived in the newspaper was crates from a Petaluma
>farm were found after an estimated couple hundred chukars were found eaten
>by predators by hikers. It looked like a massacre because these birds were
>easy pickings for predators not knowing how to survive outside of their
>cages. From that time chukars have been seen throughout the City of Oakland
>and the ones in the dome cage are captures found by citizens or animal
>control. Also chukars are sold for food in some markets and when bought
>again by citizens and kept in their back yards they will escape thus
>creating this species of bird to be found here and there throughout the Bay
>area. To prevent these birds from fighting with each other in closed
>confines metal rings are placed in the nose. Hope this clears up some
>perplexity.
>Stephanie Benavidez
>Natralist at Lake Merritt
>-----Original Message-----
>From: sightings-bounces at diabloaudubon.com
>To: ebbsightings
>Sent: 10/25/06 8:21 AM
>Subject: Re: [EBB Sightings] Perplexity about Chukar sightings
>Charles Waltner wrote:
>>  This is odd. Earlier in the year I also spotted a Chukar partridge in
>>  Oakland, off of Athol Ave. near Lake Merritt. Can anyone comment on
>>  this? I assumed it was an escapee from somewhere. Are there wild
>chukars
>>  that live in the East Bay foothills? This doesn't seem possible.
>There are always Chukars in the globe cage at the Lake Merritt nature
>center (where we're meeting at 9:30 this morning for a GGAS-sponsored
>bird walk, free and open to anyone, hint, hint), so one near the lake
>might have escaped from there. Though I'm not sure why it'd want to get
>out, except maybe too much company....
>--
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