April 2022.
[internal chukar monologue]: “WTH. It’s April 7th, people, and instead of building a nest and making babies I’m sitting here getting snowed on while Crazy Lady takes pictures of me through her window. Enough to make a bird fly south again.”
[internal Dana monologue]: “I looked up and he was gone, leaving this billet-doux behind. #everthegentleman.”
Chukars aren’t native to Alaska (not yet, anyway) so I’m guessing someone was raising this guy for meat and he fled the coop before that awful day. There are a lot of eagles and owls and hawks around here so not necessarily a happy ending, at least not for him.