Strange bird at Carlos Avery

After 6 days of rain the sun finally came out for an extended period on Friday. Since it has been a while since I have birded Carlos Avery I decided to take a trip north after I got off of work. While driving through the park I spotted an unusual bird crossing the road in front of me. I got out of the car to get a closer look and a picture.The picture did not turn out that well because the bird was already in the woods by the time I got out of the car but from the picture I identified the bird as a Chukar. This confused me because from what I read Chukar where Eurasian game birds that were introduced to the US and had established populations in dry western states. Since I could not find any listing of these birds in Minnesota I turned to the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union to help me with the mystery. The overwhelming response that I received was that this was probably a captive bird that had escaped or been released.

Other species that I saw on my trip where a green heron

a pied grebe

And a northern harrier

It was great to get out in the sun and do some birding.