Grey partridge

Grey partridge (perdix perdix) is widespread on a significant part of territory of Eurasia from the Atlantic coast up to the mountains of Altai. In Belarus the grey partridge is widespread everywhere, but non-evenly, depending on the quality of the land. Its number can strongly change on years depending on weather conditions during the period of reproduction and the wintering. The grey partridge is the inhabitant of dry open spaces that’s why it lives mainly in rural landscapes and usually avoids woody areas. Its favorite habitat are fields with spaces of bushes and islets of low forest on hilly district or among the drained territories with improvement channels and forest belts. The grey partridge willingly settles also on the upland meadows, sometimes on the drained peat bogs, extensive cuttings down and on edge of the fluvial meadows. Everywhere it prefers to keep on the territory of wastelands, thickets of tall weeds, bush, on forest edges adjoining to the fields, on not tilled slopes, boundary path and on suburbs of the fields. The extensive fields borrowed by monocultures and deprived of elementary shelters for birds, are of little use for a grey partridge, it can be met only on the edge of such spaces. The bird obviously gravitates to the cultural landscape and is usual enough in vicinities of villages, settlements and even large cities. The grey partridge is traditionally considered as a hunting kind.