come on, get happy! #130

It's always exciting when I do a mid-week post because it usually means something exciting and unexpected has happened. I saw that some gray partridge were reported yesterday in my area, so I since I was off today anyway, I took some time in between laying tiles to see what I could find! Dad and I checked out Brownlee Road with no luck, but we decided to try Rushmore just in case. There they were, not far off Eagleson. I saw two, and one kept craning its neck back and to the side...I dunno...it just didn't look right. I don't know much about these birds, but it didn't seem like normal behaviour. Anyways, they are actually a Eurasian species that was introduced a long time ago, and are also known as Hungarian Partridge. They have this really cool belly patch. I've looked for these birds before with no luck, and they have a pretty limited range in North America (plus they are declining, which is pretty sad).  So I wasn't expecting this!

#130: Gray Partridge; Kanata, Ontario; April 12, 2011

Doing the weird neck thing. There were two, but one was doing a better job of hiding than the other. Despite my incredible sneakiness, they took off after a few minutes.