Thursday, July 21, 2011

Mystery Birds

Today as I was cleaning up the house, I happened to glance out the window, only to notice a flock of birds unlike any I have seen since moving to Joshua Tree.  I quickly went to get my camera, and followed them around from window to window as they circled the house.  They definitely preferred the shade, and would run pretty fast when crossing through the sunny areas of the yard.  I wonder if they are Sage Grouse?  They don't exactly fit the description of Sage Grouse, so then I thought maybe they were Chukar?  Does anyone know what they might be? 


There were about fourteen of them.  They most definitely are not the Gambel's Quail.  I am familiar with them, since they visit almost daily.   These mystery birds were bigger than the Quail, and they had longer legs.  They almost seemed turkey like.  ???  If anyone has an idea of what kind of birds they are, I am interested!

Gambel's Quail

Blurry Gambel's Quail photo.
In other, art-related news, Lucien Freud, the figure painter, died Wednesday night.  You can read the New York Times article here.  (Thanks to Marjorie for sending me the link!) 

Stay cool, my blog reading friends!

6 comments:

Sherrie York said...

Looks like chukar, a Eurasian species that was introduced here as a game bird. It's in the partridge family. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/chukar/id

Unknown said...

Chukar was the consensus on facebook, too! Mystery solved! Thanks, Sherrie.

Cynthia Anderson said...

Lucky you! I have never seen a chukkar in this area. Happy Summer! Cynthia

Tina Bluefield said...

yeah, Chukar, how exciting! (they are the only ones with red legs)

Anonymous said...

They're very cute birds. Very cool that the answer was found.

Matt "Furryscaly" Reinbold said...

Also, these chukars are juveniles, which is why their appearance is so different. Adults will be much thicker with more a more defined pattern and less scruffiness.