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An Accidental Tourist?


 

This, my friends, is a chukar.

Chukar sighting in Howard County, 2026 via Western Howard County Shares

And here’s another one.


Chukar sighting in Washington County, 2025 via MD Birding


I had never seen nor even heard of a chukar before coming across the image posted on the Western Howard County Shares Facebook Group. 

This chukar was seen at Glenwood Middle School, this morning in case anyone is missing a member of their flock!

On the basis of two images and absolutely no research I concluded that the chukar is short and round. No, it’s upright and skinny. What’s going on with the neck here?


It’s okay. You can laugh. My knowledge of birds is limited.

What I know now is that the chukar is a partridge. It is not native to Maryland. Usually when you see one it’s because it is being used as a “bait bird” in recreational hunting activities.

Sigh.

As far as the particular chukar spotted in Howard County, I don’t think they were able to ascertain where it came from. According to one respondent, the local Dayton Rod and Gun club does absolutely no live animal shooting whatsoever. (strictly target shooting.) There was some discussion that it might have wandered off from someone’s private flock.

Are there any rules about raising non-native birds? I don’t know.

I went to the website of the Howard County Bird Club to see if I could learn more. Alas, I went cross-eyed scanning a very long list of birds. The chukar may be there somewhere…

I found the following categories at the bottom of the HoCo Bird Field Checklist.




My favorites: Casual, Accidental, and Hypothetical. It made me think: what kind of a Howard Countian are you? Casual? Accidental? Hypothetical?

If a non-native bird is brought here against its will to be shot at, what kind of category would that be? I’m still thinking about that.








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  1. Julia A. McCreadyApril 21, 2026 at 4:20 AM

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