I have a pair of Red-legged Partridges regularly visiting my garden. In fact they appear to have nested as there are 12 beige mottled brown 1 inch eggs in a leaf lined 'scrape' in a flower bed next to the fence at the bottom of our garden. We first noticed the nest 2 weeks ago when there were 3 eggs, and every day or two an extra egg appeared.
There is no sign of the eggs being 'brooded'. Can the eggs still be incubated successfully by the parents?
The birds seem to be remarkably tame allowing me to get within 20 feet to photograph them.
[QUOTE=stevey]I have a pair of Red-legged Partridges regularly visiting my garden. In fact they appear to have nested as there are 12 beige mottled brown 1 inch eggs in a leaf lined 'scrape' in a flower bed next to the fence at the bottom of our garden. We first noticed the nest 2 weeks ago when there were 3 eggs, and every day or two an extra egg appeared.
There is no sign of the eggs being 'brooded'. Can the eggs still be incubated successfully by the parents?
The birds seem to be remarkably tame allowing me to get within 20 feet to photograph them.[/QUOTE]
It is a redleg nest and the eggs will be incubated. Redlegs are perculiar in that some hens will lay two broods. The hen will sit the second and if the first clutch has esaped predation the cock will go back and sit the first origanal nest. Both birds start sitting at the same time once the second clutch is complete. Redleg nests have been found with grass growing up between the eggs which have then been successfully incubated. About 25% of redleg pairs will double clutch. Ive seen the successful results once, two adult redlegs each with about 8 poults. They were always within 50 yards of each other but never amalgamated the broods.
Redlegs have a habit of nesting in strange places, typically the centre vegatated strip of a farm track or a straw stack. They also seem to like farmers gardens, there can be thousands of acres of prime farmland but redlegs will chose a flowerbed next to the garden path! I suspect alot of these nests are from birds that have been released as young birds for shooting. They often lack the same instints as genuine wild hatched birds. That said your garden birds could be from wild stock, if so their chances of successful nesting will be that much higher.