Breeding dispersal and demography of wild and hand‐reared grey partridges <i>Perdix perdix</i> in Finland

Abstract

To evaluate the usefulness of restocking of grey partridge Perdix perdix in marginal ranges we studied survival, spring dispersal and breeding success of wild and released grey partridge females using radio‐tracking. Released females had lower survival during the breeding period than wild females. Within the limitation of the small sample size obtained from the released birds surviving till nesting, there was no difference in spring dispersal, nesting chronology, clutch size, and nest predation between wild and released birds. However, wild partridges produced more fledglings per radio‐tracked female than released birds. This difference was mainly due to the higher survival rates of wild hens compared to those of released hens before the incubation period. We conclude that due to their poor survival and reproduction output, released birds may have little value in attempts to boost threatened wild populations of the grey partridge, whereas habitat management and predator control could be more useful tools for the preservation of grey partridge populations in marginal regions.