Restart Bird Identification Expert

What was the primary COLOR of the Upland-ground-like bird you saw in Missouri?



Gray Partridge: Gray-brown ground bird with rufous face and throat. Body complexly barred and streaked with red and white. Dark red belly patch. Legs and feet are yellow-orange. Prefers to walk rather than fly. Introduced to North America as a game bird in the early 1900s. AKA Hungarian Partridge.
Greater Prairie-Chicke: Medium grouse, barred with brown and buff (or white). Yellow-orange eye combs. Orange air sacs on both sides of the neck inflate during courtship display; long feathers on back of neck also raised during displays. Short, dark brown tail, legs are feathered to the toes.
Ring-necked Pheasant: Large, chicken-like pheasant with metallic-brown body, iridescent green head, white neck ring, and bright red eye patch and wattles. The tail is very long and pointed. It was first introduced to California from Asia as a game bird in 1857. Very popular bird for hunting.
Ruffed Grouse: Medium-sized grouse with crested head and scaled brown upperparts. White underparts have pale brown bars on breast and dark brown bars on belly and flanks. Sides of neck have black ruff. The tail is brown with fine, white bars and white-edged dark band at tip. Northern form is grayer.
White-tailed Ptarmigan: Small grouse, mottled brown overall, white on wings, breast, belly, red eye comb, white-edged brown tail, legs covered with white feathers. It is the smallest of the ptarmigans, and the only one that nests south of Canada. Lives most of its life above timberline.
Wild Turkey: Large, ground-walking bird, iridescent dark brown overall with black and green bars, small, featherless, blue head that changes color according to mood, and red throat wattles. Breast beard (modified feathers) is black. The legs have spurs. It is the largest game bird in North America.
Northern Bobwhite: Medium, morphologically variable quail, most with unique head pattern of white face and throat, dark eyestripe, rufous-brown (eastern and Great Plains) or black (Florida) center stripe on top of head. Body shows a mottled combination of black, brown, rufous-brown, and gray.
Greater Roadrunner: Large, ground-dwelling cuckoo with overall brown, white and buff streaked appearance. Head has a shaggy crest. Face has blue and orange bare patch of skin behind eyes. Tail is long. Eats insects, lizards, snakes, rodents, small birds and fruits and seeds. Can run up to 15 mph.
Chuck-will's-widow: Large nightjar with entire body complexly mottled with brown, gray, and black. Collar is white, throat is brown, and breast patch is dark brown. The tail is white-edged. Legs and feet are brown. Feeds at night, mostly on insects. Bouyant, silent flight with flicking wing beats.
Common Nighthawk: Medium nightjar with white-speckled, dark upperparts, black-and-white barred underparts, mottled breast, white throat. Wings are long, dark gray with white bars, nearly covering tail when folded. Gray-brown legs and feet. Darting erratic flight with frequent changes of direction.
Common Poorwill: Small, stocky nightjar with pale brown mottled body and white collar separating black throat from narrowly barred underparts. Wings are rounded and tail is short and fan-shaped with outer tail feathers tipped white. Pink-brown legs and feet. Silent flight on quick shallow wing beats.
Whip-poor-will: Medium-sized nightjar with gray-brown-black mottled upperparts and pale gray-black underparts. Throat is black; eyebrows and neckband are white. Tail is long and rounded with large white corner patches. Brown legs and feet. Erratic mothlike flight, flies close to the ground at night.
 
Restart Bird Identification Expert