Talk:Grey Francolin

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[edit] Behavior

I spent a few hours observing a small group of these birds the other day, and their behavior is absolutely fascinating. I'm wondering if we can expand this article to include more information. These birds have a tendency to attack reflections (or mirrored images) of themselves, so I'm wonderng if this reflects a lack of intelligence, or just poor eyesight. Another thing I don't get, is when they get separated from each other, they spend a lot of time communicating with their distinctive calls from up to 100 yards away or more -- yet they refuse to fly over to one another. Does this mean they forage independently, keeping in contact with the others, letting them know their location? Does anyone know why these birds prefer to run than fly? I'm assuming they are conserving energy. —Viriditas | Talk 01:03, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, they prefer running to flying. The males are polygynous, I presume the one that attacked a mirror was a male. In India a decoy male is often used to capture wild ones. The article certainly needs additions as in most bird articles. The description and identification is usually the simplest part of study and the article. Ecological and behavioural aspects are tougher to learn about, but they should gradually be added to the articles. Shyamal 01:40, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for the reply. I will make an effort to do some research on the Francolins in the next week and update the articles as necessary. —Viriditas | Talk 01:58, 4 December 2006 (UTC)