The Gray Partridge (Perdix perdix) is a game bird in the pheasant family. Perdix is Latin for partridge. They are native to much of Europe and Asia and were also known as Hungarian Partridges or “huns.” They were introduced into North America in the early 1900s from Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Gray Partridges were stocked in Columbia County in 1931. The birds were common but hard to find on the Empire Prairie when we moved to Goose Pond in 1979. Mark was familiar with them when he explored and hunted Ring-necked Pheasants around Marshall in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The Gray Partridge is a portly bird with a rusty face, tail, streaks down the sides, and a dark belly patch. Outside of breeding and brood-rearing seasons, partridges form small groups called coveys. Coveys explode into a scratchy, squawking flight when disturbed, even from a considerable distance.
Sam Robbins wrote in Wisconsin Birdlife (1991) that the partridges:
“Were fairly common resident, south and east and uncommon in west-central Wisconsin. The introduction was largely due to the persistent efforts of one man: Colonel Gustav Pabst of Milwaukee. Pabst made releases in 1910, 1913, 1915, and most probably in 1918 in the Dousman area of Waukesha County. Leopold’s estimate is that about 5,000 birds were released during a 20-year period.”
Our guess is that the birds were released at the Pabst farms, where the interstate runs, an area that is now covered with houses and businesses.
Gray Partridge (photo via Pixabay)
Gray Partridges are non-migratory but their population expanded over time, probably helped by additional stocking. The last release was about 50 years ago when wildlife research biologists released birds in Clark, Marathon, and Taylor Counties. The DNR has since closed these counties to hunting partridge.
Three major Gray Partridge research studies were done in Wisconsin. Leopold graduate students Robert McCabe and Art Hawkins studied them in the local area around Faville Grove Sanctuary. According to Robbins, researchers found that “huns” prefer alfalfa and other hayfields on small family-sized farms. They avoid dense cover on marshlands frequenting instead level cultivated fields, brushy fence lines and roadsides. Wet springs and early summers greatly negatively impact broods.
At Goose Pond Sanctuary, the first Gray Partridge eBird record was a pair seen on May 11, 1958 by William Hilsenhoff and the last eBird record was by Aaron Stutz on January 10, 2001. Our high count was seeing 39 on the Manthe Farm, north of the east pond when their numbers were high in 1993. Our restored tallgrass prairie habitat cover was too tall and Mark remembers flushing a covey out of the middle of a prairie restoration only once. Sue remembers seeing small flocks as she and Mark drove the UW Arlington Research Farm on snowy days: “The agricultural fields were cleanly cropped and were bleak settings covered completely with snow. But, there were those partridges enjoying the scene as they were tough.”
The last eBird report of Gray Partridge in Columbia County was an interesting report by Robert Guth, who saw them while riding the Amtrak southeast of Portage on July 3, 2014.
Poynette CBC partridge counts (graph by Graham Steinhauer).
The graph shows Poynette Christmas Bird Count partridge numbers from 1971 to 2005 with the last count of seven birds. High numbers of Gray Partridge were 116 in 1987 and 87 in 1990. In those two years most of the birds were found around Goose Pond.
In the Breeding Bird Atlas 1 from 1995–2000, confirmed and probable nesting records were reported from 19 counties. In Columbia County three atlas blocks in the Goose Pond area had confirmed nesting and one block had probable nesting. In the Breeding Bird Atlas II from 2015–2019, there were two Gray Partridge confirmations and three probables in Grant, Iowa, and Kenosha County. We believe there are no longer any Gray Partridges in Columbia County.
The DNR still has a statewide Gray Partridge season with a daily bag limit of three, except for Clark, Marathon, and Taylor Counties. Our guess is that hunters harvest only a handful of birds annually.
Gone are the days in our area of small farms, late-cut hayfields, low use of pesticides, and Gray Partridge. However, we fondly remember our first 20 years at Goose Pond when we enjoyed seeing broods and coveys.
Written by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers
Cover image: Two Gray Partridges, with gray and rusty colored plumage and dark patches on their undersides, strut through short dry grass (photo via Pixabay).
