Chukar Babies

 It seems that every year about this time we start lamenting the fact that there are no chukar babies. Then, just as we decide that some terrible catastrophe must have taken place, we hear that amazing cluck, cluck, cluck of little voices and see mama chukar proudly herding her flock.

Often the little ones seem to be part of a village upbringing with several broods mingling into a huge mosh pit of sound and color. But every now and then we will see a mama like this one who seems to be intent on raising her nine chicks on her own.

The babies are pretty monotone in color and blend into the background other than their red legs. It is hard to believe they will grow up to be such a beautiful combination of bold stripes and subtle shades of terra-cotta and gray!