Brownlee Chukar Count Nears Record Low

Hot, dry weather with fewer insects probably led to the poor survival rate of chukar chicks that showed up in the August 30 aerial count near Brownlee Reservoir. No survey will be conducted this year in the Clearwater Region where a massive wildfire burned through the survey area. The annual survey will be conducted next summer in that region. The Brownlee count, conducted by helicopter each year on the same 12-square-mile block, found 506 chukar in 70 groups for a 42 bird per square mile average. Groups averaged 7.2 birds. The 10-year average is 1,412 birds in 112 groups with 117.7 chukars per square mile and 12.6 birds in each group. Last year the count was 858 chukar in 139 groups with 71.5 birds per square mile. The worst count in the 23 years it has been conducted came in 1993 after the harsh winter of 1992-1993. That year the count was only 211 chukar in 24 groups, 17.6 birds per square mile. Chukar chicks, as is the case with most upland birds, depend heavily on high-protein insects in the first weeks of life. When conditions, such as drought, limit insects, chukar and many other young birds fail to thrive. When conditions are good, chukar have a high reproduction rate and can recover numbers quickly. After the record-low 1993 count of 211 birds, the 1994 count showed 1,056 chukar.