Gray Partridge

LC - Least Concern

NNA - No Status Rank

SNA - No Status Rank

not listed

11″ to 14″ in length

19″ wingspan

Grassy, weedy fields, agricultural croplands

Waste grain, seeds.

Native to Europe and Asia

Uncommon and local year-round resident

In the twentieth century, the range of Gray Partridge in North America has been declining. There are four geographically distinct populations of Gray Partridge in North America. The largest of these is in the Great Plains region. It extends from “the southern halves of Alberta and Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba southward to the eastern two-thirds of Montana, northwestern Wyoming, all of North Dakota, the northern half of South Dakota, western and southern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa.”* The range in this region is stable, not declining.

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* McCrow, Vernon Pat, "Gray partridge habitat use and nesting biology in north-central Iowa " (1982). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. Paper 7516.

The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union All Seasons Species Occurrence Map

According to the American Ornithologist’s Union (1957), Gray Partridge were imported into North America from stock obtained from England, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. In all of these countries, it is most likely that that the subspecies Perdix perdix perdix was obtained. However, Gray Partridge has been imported many times, sometimes by private individuals, where the origin of the birds was unknown or unrecorded. Therefore, it is likely that the North American population is a mix of several subspecies and hybrids.