Unidentified Chick in South Yorks (1 Viewer)

[cgj2545]

This chick was found in grass alongside a small woodland banking adj to a quarry at rear of houses in South Yorks.
The parent was alarm calling from the trees nearby and seen (not by me) to fly across and land in bushes nearby, being described as brown and medium (Thrushish) sized. Definitely not a species of gamebird.
Totally at a loss - Any ideas please?

 

[mummymonkey]

Grey partridge I think

 

[lou salomon]

if the parent was in the trees it can't be what i'm seeing here: a grey partridge chick.

 

[RichieTwitchy]

Deffo - Grey Partrdige as the members above have said.

 

[Tired]

No clue of species, but definitely looks precocial, so it's something that should be hanging around on the ground at this age. Like baby chickens, as compared to things like robins, which are floppy and helpless as babies.

 

[PYRTLE]

There are plenty of images of Black Grouse, Ptarmigan and the occasional Hazel Hen perched in trees. Pheasants go to roost in trees as well. No reason why a Grey Partridge wouldn't seek refuge and alarm call higher up if there was a ground dwelling predator nearby. Distraction tactic and clear warning to its brood on the floor.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Were they pear trees?

 

[delia todd]

Hi cgj and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits.

 

[cgj2545]

Thanks to all who replied. Just revisited the site and immediately put up, from almost underfoot, 2 adult Grey Partridges who were obviously attending young. They flew only a short distance and started to return so I immediately vacated the area.
(One was making the same "tick,tick" call that had come earlier from the tree area.)

 

[stevethehydra]

This February I encountered a cock pheasant in full breeding plumage perched in the topmost branches of one of the tallest trees (at least 20m tall) in a churchyard in Harborne, Birmingham. Two magpies were perched nearby, seemingly as surprised by its presence as I was!

This chick is definitely a gamebird and I'm not disputing Grey Partridge if adults were nearby, but out of interest can chicks this young be definitively identified as Grey vs. Red-legged etc? (I'm not sure I could even distinguish it from a Red Grouse chick going by those I've seen...)

 

[mummymonkey]

This February I encountered a cock pheasant in full breeding plumage perched in the topmost branches of one of the tallest trees (at least 20m tall) in a churchyard in Harborne, Birmingham. Two magpies were perched nearby, seemingly as surprised by its presence as I was!

This chick is definitely a gamebird and I'm not disputing Grey Partridge if adults were nearby, but out of interest can chicks this young be definitively identified as Grey vs. Red-legged etc? (I'm not sure I could even distinguish it from a Red Grouse chick going by those I've seen...)

They can be, yes. Although there is a lot of individual variation each species has a distinctive head & body pattern. In the case of the grey partridge chick posted, just looking at the head you can see 4 longitudinal stripes (broken into streaks and spots in this chick) with a rufous colour between the middle pair. This gives the appearance of a rufous band over the top of its head. Red-legged chicks have a plainer head, red grouse have an even redder and more pronounced head band.