BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Perdix perdix
Gray Partridge
| Scientific Name: | Perdix perdix (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Gray Partridge | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-GRPA | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Apr 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | SNA (Mar 2015) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Exotic | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 7 - Exotic (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | |||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Breeding begins late May to early June. Eight to 23 eggs in one nest; 2 hens may lay eggs in same nest. Incubation lasts 23-25 days (Harrison 1978). Nestlings precocial and downy. Young tended by both parents. Probably lifetime pair bond (Weigand 1980). | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | In New York, home range size was 82-672 ha, did not differ by season (Church and Porter 1990). | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / N / N / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | In Montana, most of population moved among different seasonal ranges (Weigand 1980). | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Agriculture / Cultivated Field / Unknown
Agriculture / Hedgerow / Unknown Agriculture / Pasture/Old Field / Unknown Grassland/Shrub / Sagebrush Steppe / Unknown |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Primarily cultivated regions with marginal cover of bushes, undergrowth or hedgerows, and pastures, steppe and meadows (AOU 1983). Nests in grasslands, hayfields, or grain fields. The nest is a scratched-out hollow, lined with grasses and leaves. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Granivore: Adult, Immature
Herbivore: Adult, Immature Invertivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Feeds primarily on seeds of wheat, corn, barley, oats, smartweeds, lambs's quarters, crabgrass, etc. Also eats leaves of clover, alfalfa, bluegrass, dandelion, etc. Chicks feed on insects for first few weeks of life. In eastern South Dakota, row crop grains (corn, sunflowers) dominated late fall, winter, and spring diets; small grains (oats, barley, wheat, rye) rarely were consumed though widely available; ate more leafy vegetation when row crop grains were buried by snow; insects dominated early summer diet; foxtail seeds were the major late summer and early fall food (Hupp et al. 1988). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 32/ / 398 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Native to western Eurasia, from central Sweden and northern Russia south to northern Spain, Greece, and northern Iran and east to central Siberia (Pough 1957). Widely introduced in North America, established locally from southern Canada to northern U.S. (from New York west to Oregon). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | HAMMERSON, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Dec 06, 1989 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC. |
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Church, K.E. and W.F. Porter. 1990. Winter and spring habitat use by gray partridge in New York. J. of Wildlife Management 54:653-657. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Hupp, J. W., J. T. Ratti, and L. M. Smith. 1988. Gray partridge foraging ecology in eastern South Dakota. Great Basin Nat. 48:202-205. |
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Johnsgard, P. A. 1988. The quails, partridges, and francolins of the world. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. 264 pp. |
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Pough, R. H. 1957. Audubon Western Bird Guide. Doubleday. 316 pp. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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Weigand, J. P. 1980. Ecology of the Hungarian partridge in north-central Montana. Wildl. Monogr. No. 74:1-106. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1989. Species Summary: Perdix perdix. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Nov 13, 2025).