Birds · Galliformes · Phasianidae

Grey Partridge

Perdix perdix

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The grey partridge is a bird of the European countryside that has suffered one of the most severe declines of any bird on the continent: the British population has fallen by more than 90% since the 1960s. The cause is well identified: herbicides removed the weeds, the insects went with them, and the chicks, which depend entirely on insects for their first few weeks, starve. In Spain a relict mountain population survives.

Weight

300 g – 450 g

Size

28 cm – 32 cm

Lifespan

5 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Family group

Lives in small family groups with close bonds.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

MountainGrasslandHerbivore Diurnal Family group Bird Mountain Grassland

46countries 43parks21same family

Fun facts

GeneralIn Iberia it survives only high in the mountains, cut off from the rest of Europe.
Its decline is the classic case study of the impact of intensive farming on wildlife: the chicks need insects for their first two weeks, and the herbicides that removed the weeds removed with them the insects they depended on.
It lays one of the largest clutches of any bird: up to twenty eggs in a single laying, a strategy suited to extremely high juvenile mortality.
In Spain it survives only in the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees, in isolated mountain populations listed as threatened.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Cereal farmland with field boundaries, hedges and fallow; in Spain, mountain pasture and scrub
Birth weight: Precocial: born covered in down and leaves the nest within a few hours
Size at birth: Precocial: born covered in down and leaves the nest within a few hours
Sexual maturity: 12 months
Gestation / incubation: 24 days
Litter / clutch size: 16