I am also in Delaware (just a few blocks west of Mr. Froelich) and also saw an unusual bird in my yard this weekend, which I was not able to immediately identify. I thought that it might have been a mourning dove or pigeon when I first saw it from a distance. It was sitting on the ground and let me approach and I noticed upon closer inspection that it was not the mourning dove I thought it was since the body shape was off, it had a band of color around its eye and down its head and had a curved beak. I got right up to it before it hopped away- never flying, only running off. Having now looked online at pictures of a Chukar, the facial markings and beak shape certainly seem to match what I saw. Another neighbor had seen the bird in his yard on Friday and knowing that I have some interest in birding described the bird in the same detail. The only discrepancy between my (somewhat shoddy) memory and the pictures I've seen of Chukar is that I recall the beak being yellow, not red. Then again, I spent more than an hour looking through half a dozen bird books for a bird that fit my observations and had a yellow beak and there just wasn't one. The photos of the Chukar (minus the beak issue) match what I saw. The bird did not make any vocalizations in the time I observed it. Understanding that these birds are not known in this area, I would be open to any thoughts about these multiple sightings in Delaware. Dave Hejmanowski ----- Original Message ----- From: August Froehlich <[log in to unmask]> Date: Monday, June 11, 2007 9:58 am Subject: [Ohio-birds] Quite odd new yard bird To: [log in to unmask] > Ohio Birders- > > I had a new addition to our plain and meager yard list yesterday. I > live in > downtown Delaware (Delorme B-1) and was working in my yard when I > heardsomething that didn't belong. I went around to the front of > the house to > investigate and found a Chukar standing in the flowerbed. I got a > few photos > of it before it got tired of the attention and flew off. > > My house is maybe 3 miles from the Delaware Wildlife Area, and > there was a > big country/craft show at the Fairgrounds less than a mile away. > I'm going > to guess that one of those two places is short one bird. I still can't > believe it. > > Now what will next take an interest in my yard....? > > August Froehlich > Dublin OH > Delorme D1 > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]