Chukar Partridge
Alectoris chukar
Overview
Chukar Partridge in Georgia
The chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar) belongs to the pheasant family and is a chicken-like bird. Georgia’s 2024 bird list confirms that it breeds here and stays throughout the year. Photographs, sound recordings and a bird taken by a hunter support these records. According to the map on this page, its presence is confirmed in Kakheti and Tbilisi; there are only isolated records from Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Samtskhe-Javakheti. The National Wildlife Agency also names the Iori Plateau, the upper reaches of the Mtkvari River valley and the Kvernaqi Ridge. An adult is about 34–38 cm long. To identify it, look for these features together: a red beak, a pale throat outlined in black, and black stripes on its sides. It poses no direct threat to people. Globally, its risk of extinction is low (LC); national assessments of its status in Georgia disagree, as explained below.
Published:
Gallery
Chukar Partridge in photos
Where Chukar is recorded in Georgia
103 field records · 2015–2026 · 4 regions
The Chukar map uses public iNaturalist observations from Georgia. Regions come from the records-by-region table: only a confirmed status counts as distribution; other regions have records only. Points outside the map's regional polygons remain in the total but are not assigned to a region. Counts reflect observation effort, not population density.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
Records by region
Identification
How to identify Chukar Partridge
It is a medium-sized, stocky bird that lives on the ground. Its beak and legs are red. A black stripe runs from the eye along the sides of the neck, framing its pale throat. Bold black stripes mark the pale feathers on its flanks. Together, these features are especially helpful for identifying it in rocky places.
An adult bird is about 34–38 cm long. This is a general size for the species, not a range based on individual birds measured in Georgia. Its back is gray-brown, its throat is pale, and its sides have black stripes. Males are slightly larger on average, but size alone is not a reliable way to tell a bird’s sex. The bold markings typical of adults may be less noticeable on young birds.
The quail (Coturnix coturnix) is much smaller than the chukar. It has mottled stripes on its back and usually hides in grass. The chukar has a red beak and a black band around its pale throat. The pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is larger, and adults have long tails. The grey partridge (Perdix perdix) is also found in Georgia. It, too, is a short-tailed bird that lives on the ground, but unlike the chukar, it has no black ring around its throat or bold vertical stripes on its sides. The atlas does not yet have a separate page for the grey partridge.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
On this page’s map, the rock partridge’s presence is confirmed in Kakheti and Tbilisi, while it has only been recorded in Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Samtskhe-Javakheti. The map is based on publicly posted observations on iNaturalist and does not show the bird’s full historical range. A national agency lists the Iori Plateau, the upper Mtkvari valley, the Kvernaki Range, and the Greater and Lesser Caucasus; the Georgian Encyclopedia also mentions other mountain ranges. These accounts do not automatically add regions to the map’s table. In the wild, look for the rock partridge on dry, rocky slopes with scattered shrubs. This page has no verified information on how high above sea level the bird occurs in Georgia. Do not approach its nest.
Diet
It eats plant seeds, shoots, buds and insects. This page does not present a separate study of how much each makes up of its diet in different parts of Georgia.
Behavior
On rocky slopes, the chukar partridge walks more often than it flies. When startled, it takes off in a short, powerful flight. Its loud, repeated “chuk-chuk” call can also help identify it. The audio recording on this page captures the sound it makes in flight. Stanislas Wroza made the recording on Lesbos, Greece, not in Georgia. According to a 2024 list, the bird nests in Georgia and stays year-round, though the list does not say when it is active at particular locations. According to the agency, egg-laying begins in April on the Iori Plateau and may begin later at higher elevations. The nest is on the ground. General figures cited by the agency say that the bird lays an average of 7–12 eggs and sits on them for 22–25 days. These figures are not based on measurements of every nest in Georgia.
Conservation
In the IUCN’s 2016 global assessment, the chukar is classified as LC, meaning it faces a low risk of extinction. Georgia’s 2024 bird checklist and the National Wildlife Agency also list it as LC at the national level. According to the agency, the chukar is not on Georgia’s Red List. However, a table in the 2023 management plan for Chachuna Managed Reserve lists its national category as EN. The reason for this difference has not been established here, so neither EN nor LC can be treated as its definitive legal status. The agency names illegal hunting, deterioration of the bird’s habitat and the splitting up of that habitat as local threats. These sources do not show how chukar numbers are changing across Georgia.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Chukar Partridge.
Yes. According to 2024 data, it nests here and lives here year-round.
The map’s table confirms its presence in Kakheti and Tbilisi. There are only isolated records from Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Samtskhe-Javakheti. Other locations described by the agency and the Georgian Encyclopedia do not, by themselves, change the regions’ status on this map.
It has a red beak, a pale throat outlined in black, and bold black stripes along its sides. It is stocky and often walks on rocky slopes.
Adults are usually about 34–38 cm long. This is a general figure for the species, not one based on measurements taken separately in Georgia.
Plant seeds, shoots and buds, as well as insects. This page has no local research data on how much each of these foods contributes to its diet in Georgia.
The quail is a much smaller, mottled bird that lives in grass. The partridge is larger. It has a red beak, a black border around its pale throat, and striped sides.
Globally, the chukar is classified as LC, meaning it faces a low risk of extinction. Its classification in Georgia differs between sources: the 2024 list and the agency give it LC, while the 2023 Chachuna plan gives it EN, meaning it is endangered. The chukar is not on the published current list of game birds. Older information should not be taken to mean that hunting it is permitted.
References
Sources
References
Sources
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia, Sandgrouse 46
- სსიპ ველური ბუნების ეროვნული სააგენტო — კაკაბი
- ქართული ენციკლოპედია — კაკაბი
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Chukar identification
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Chukar sounds
- BirdLife International / IUCN — Alectoris chukar (2016 assessment)
- საქართველოს საკანონმდებლო მაცნე — ჭაჭუნის აღკვეთილის მენეჯმენტის გეგმა (2023)
- გარემოსდაცვითი ზედამხედველობის დეპარტამენტი — ნადირობის სეზონი
- Avibase — Alectoris chukar, სახელები და სინონიმები
- Wikimedia Commons — Alectoris chukar (Vojttěch Soukup, CC BY-SA 4.0; გვერდის ფოტო შემცირებულია, გაზიარების ფოტო მოჭრილია)
- iNaturalist — Alectoris chukar-ის საჯარო დაკვირვებები საქართველოში
- xeno-canto XC1134838 — Alectoris chukar-ის ფრენის ხმა (Stanislas Wroza, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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