Bird Guide

Barbary Partridge vs Rock Partridge

Barbary Partridge (Alectoris barbara)

Barbary Partridge

Alectoris barbara

Large416 gRocky

The Barbary partridge is a rotund bird, with a grey-brown back, grey breast and buff belly. The face is light grey with a broad reddish-brown gorget. It has rufous-streaked white flanks and red legs. When disturbed, it prefers to run rather than fly, but if necessary it flies a short distance on rounded wings. It is closely related to its western European equivalent, the red-legged partridge. It is similar to the red-legged partridge, but it has a different head and neck pattern. The song is a noisy tre-tre-tre-tre-tre-cheeche-tre-tre-tre.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Frits van der Meer from Utrecht, Nederland · CC BY 2.0
Rock Partridge (Alectoris graeca)

Rock Partridge

Alectoris graeca

Large594 gRocky

The rock partridge is a rotund bird, with a light brown back, grey breast and buff belly. The face is white with a black gorget. It has rufous-streaked flanks and red legs. When disturbed, it prefers to run rather than fly, but if necessary it flies a short distance on rounded wings. It is very similar to the chukar partridge, but is greyer on the back and has a white, not yellowish foreneck. The sharply defined gorget distinguishes this species from red-legged partridge. The song is a noisy ga-ga-ga-ga-chakera- chakera- chakera.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: R. J. Mathar · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Barbary Partridge and Rock Partridge.