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Species authority page

Rock partridge

Alectoris graeca · Upland game birds

Rock partridge (Alectoris graeca): Rotund; light brown back, grey breast, buff belly. White face with a sharply defined black gorget; rufous-streaked flanks; red legs. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Rock partridge standing on a rock
Photo by Bruce Kee on Unsplash
Scientific name
Alectoris graeca
Family
Phasianidae
In North America
Introduced
Range
Native to southern Europe. The Wikipedia page says the name 'rock partridge' has been used in the US for several Alectoris species and hybrids, so North American records may not be this species.
Biology

How to identify it

Rotund; light brown back, grey breast, buff belly. [1][2]

White face with a sharply defined black gorget; rufous-streaked flanks; red legs. [1][2]

Greyer on the back than a chukar and has a white, not yellowish, foreneck. [1][2]

Compared with the chukar: Very similar; rock partridge is greyer on the back with a white foreneck instead of yellowish. [1][2]

Compared with the red-legged partridge: Rock partridge's black gorget is sharply defined; red-legged has black streaking below the gorget. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a rock partridge before you act. Compared with the chukar: Very similar; rock partridge is greyer on the back with a white foreneck instead of yellowish.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Dry, open, often hilly country. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Prefers to run rather than fly when disturbed; short flight on rounded wings [1][2]

Call: noisy 'ga-ga-ga-ga-chakera-chakera-chakera' [1][2]

Takes a wide variety of seeds and some insects [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Native to southern Europe. The Wikipedia page says the name 'rock partridge' has been used in the US for several Alectoris species and hybrids, so North American records may not be this species.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. BIOLOGICALRock partridge

    Wikipedia · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Wikipedia

  2. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology