LA STARNA: Description

La Gray partridge belongs to the order Galliformes, family Phasianidae. There Gray partridge is a medium sized Galliforme, measuring between 29 and 31 cm, slightly smaller than the Red partridge. The Gray partridge it has a gray color tending to brown on the upper parts, with a faint blackish streak on the caudal region. The wings are brown, with light longitudinal streaks that form a thick bar. The flanks are furrowed with broad brown streaks, and on the chest there is an unmistakable rust red stain. The feathers of the forehead, cheeks and throat are rusty orange, while the beak and legs are gray. There Gray partridge it flies suddenly if disturbed, has a generally short and disorderly flight produced by rapid stiff and noisy wing strokes, alternating with short glides.

LA STARNA: Habitat and distribution range

La Gray partridge it prefers rather structured countryside environments, in which the crops are interspersed with hedges and rows, small wooded areas and thick bushes. There Gray partridge it also uses the extensive cereal crops that characterize the plain, as long as there are elements of landscape diversification such as bands of ecotone vegetation and large uncultivated areas. There Gray partridge it feeds mainly on seeds, buds and berries, which it integrates in summer with a significant amount of invertebrates. It builds the nest on the ground in the thick of the vegetation, lays from 10 to 20 eggs. There Gray partridge has sedentary habits with limited dispersive movements. It is continuously distributed throughout central and north-eastern Europe, in Great Britain and, in a discontinuous manner, in southern Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy and Turkey. In Italy the Gray partridge it is mainly present in the northern regions below 1700 m of altitude. The genetic patrimony of the Italian populations is in varying degrees altered due to the massive introductions for hunting purposes of subjects from other sources carried out since the 60s (Brichetti et al., 1992).

LA STARNA: Population size and trend

The European populations of Gray partridge they could amount to between 2,6 and 5,2 million couples, 1-2 million of which in Russia. In Italy the number of couples is estimated between 2000 and 5000 units, located in a few areas in the Po valley (in particular the Mezzano valley, in the province of Ferrara) and in the Apennines. There Gray partridge it is considered vulnerable and has experienced, in recent decades, a drastic decline in stocks throughout its distribution range (Tucker & Heath, 1994).

LA STARNA: Conservation and management

The conservation of the species depends on various and complex factors. There Gray partridge has been heavily affected by the drastic environmental changes that have taken place in agricultural areas. The intensification and mechanization of agriculture in particular have caused an extreme rarefaction of the marginal vegetation bands, to the point of making them disappear from almost all agricultural areas of the plains. As a consequence, the habitats suitable for the nesting of Gray partridge they have disappeared, relegating the few starne remained in the hilly areas where there are agricultural practices (viticulture) compatible with the presence of the species. The high hunting pressure probably contributed to the decline of the Italian population of Gray partridge (included in the Italian Red List among the threatened species "at least risk"). According to some authors, the species is present only in areas where hunting is prohibited (Foschi & Gellini, 1987), testifying to the enormous impact that the hunting activity has had on a species already greatly reduced in number and made vulnerable by the destruction of the habitat. As a first management intervention, an in-depth feasibility study for the reconstitution of a viable natural population would be advisable. Furthermore, actions aimed at restoring natural vegetation environments in the plains in the areas destined for cereal cultivation are desirable, protecting the hedges and rows. The presence of populations of It gets old almost exclusively within the confines of protected areas where hunting is prohibited demonstrates how a limitation of this activity is in itself an effective management measure (Vigorita et al., 2003a).