Good Eatin?

[Photo-John]

What kinda chicken is this? I saw it in some rocks on a slope above Salt Lake City. Looks fat and tasty, huh?

Sorry about the photo quality. Had to take it with my 28-70mm so it's a huge crop and some sharpening to get it to look reasonable.

[Photo-John]

C'mon - someone give me an id on this chicken. We think it's some kind of grouse. Where's a bird nerd when you need one?

[Dylan8i]

sorry, i don't have any bird id books or i'd give it a shot. i'm just not that big in to birds.

[Loupey]

LOL, John! I'd say it's definitely an Ediblious Whitemeateous from the genus Bushmeat. Sorry, not a bird nerd yet - workin' on it tho.

[TexDot]

It seems to be a Chukkar I think.
http://saltlakecity.about.com/librar.../blchukkar.htm

[Copy_Kot]

TexDot, is correct and they are good eatin

[terryger]

technically speaking it is an Iranian Redleg Partridge, commonly known as a chukker for it's call of chuk-chuk-chuk.

they have been established as game birds here just as the chunese ringneck pheasant has, for many years.

they are a challenge to hunt as they tend to live in the foothills and other such tough terrian, causing hunters to chase them uphill only to fly down to the bottm when the hunter gets close.

smart hunters instead go to the top of the hills and work down to them:thumbsup:

one of my favorite birds to eat. my only complaint in how bad they smell in the field. i tell my wife i can almost smell them before the dog does:smilewinkgrin:

[Photo-John]

That's a great reponse. I appreciate it. We saw what looked like a mother and two almost grown young ones. They were on a very steep scree slope that I wouldn't want to scramble around on. Luckily the dog didn't notice them. I wouldn't want her trying to run out on the loose rocks.