Gray Partridge

Always better to get a poor quality photo than none at all : ) Gray Partridge, an introduced, non-native species in the Pheasant family, are usually so hard to photograph because they take off in flight immediately or else land in a field way in the distance. Though this shot was barely cropped, it was taken from the car window and I find this so often doesn't work - the warm air from the car rising on a bitterly cold day seems to cause the air to move, resulting in blurry images.

Had a great day on 22 December 2013 with friends Cathy and Terry, driving the backroads SE of the city, hoping to see an owl or two. The day started off with a Long-eared Owl and ended with a Short-eared Owl! In total, we saw 5 Snowy Owls, 4 Great Horned Owls, 1 Long-eared Owl and 1 Short-eared Owl. Plus a few other species, including a Northern Shrike, many Grey Partridges (all of which flew before we could take photos, other than a couple of very distant ones including this shot), Horned Larks, Ravens/Crows, owls in barn windows, a beautiful Gyrfalcon and a colourful sunrise. Not a bad day, I think you'll agree : ) The only thing we didn't see, except briefly, was the sun, so we had low light all day, unfortunately! It was so unbearably cold all day, windchill temperature was -30C. A few seconds out of the car and fingers were so painful, despite wearing gloves. Difficult to hold the camera steady when one is shivering, ha.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Partridge

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/gray_partridge/id