Habitat Use and Home Range of Gray Partridge in Eastern South Dakota

Gray partridge (Perdix perdix) habitat use was studied in eastern South Dakota by monitoring 46 radio-tagged birds between 22 December 1978 and 21 August 1980. Partridge coveys used pastures in a winter with deep snow (56 cm, 1979) and row crops in a winter with little snow (4 cm, 1980). During spring dispersal, partridge used many different habitat types. Idle habitat (roadside, fencerows, shelterbelts) was used in late spring during the nesting period and small grain crops in early summer as broodrearing cover. Partridge used standing row crops during late summer after small grain harvest. They continued to use row crops after fall harvest. Partridge did not use different habitat types during 3 diurnal time periods. Mean home range was 96 ha (N = 8); however, individual home ranges were variable (SD = 110.6). Variability in home range may be related to season, weather, and stage in the partridge life cycle. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 46(3):580-587 Gray partridge are becoming more important as a game species in the northern prairies. In South Dakota, hunter harvest of partridge increased from 3,125 birds in 1970 to 69,170 in 1978 (South Dakota Dep. Game, Fish and Parks, unpubl. rep., 1980). Although partridge are an important wildlife resource, few data are available on their ecology in South Dakota. The objectives of this study were to examine seasonal habitat use and home range size of gray partridge in eastern South Dakota. We thank W. L. Tucker and G. C. White for assisting with statistical analysis and J. E. Dunn for providing the home range program. K. McElvain provided assistance with computer programming. W. Balda, D. Doudna, B. Gehring, J. Jasmer, E. Keyser, and D. Lundborg assisted with field work and R. P. Davison, L. D. Flake, C. G. Scalet, J. P. Weigand, and W. A. We tz reviewed drafts of the manuscript. We thank the study area landowners for their support and L. Ratti for editorial suggestions.