Chukar?

nature article Earl Plato
What a beautiful bird. Ross and Gary Bearss called. They had found this bird. What was it? Earl would know. Not. I made some wild guesses but none seemed to fit. Gary brought the bird in a cage to me. It was quiet and seemed undisturbed. Gary took it in his hand so I could snap it. No problem.
I went to all my bird books and my Peterson computer Multimedia Guide. No luck but found out later it was there. Let me describe it.
Pigeon-size, it was a soft gray-brown colour. What I saw was a clean-cut black necklace. I said, “ Plover family?”. Ross pointed out, “But it has a red beak and red legs!” Its side were boldly barred with black rows. Wow! Gary spread out its rufous coloured tail. Its throat was lightly coloured. Truly a beautiful bird. It remained calm.
The Bearss left and I spent more time researching. No luck. Ross called later. It was a Chukar quail. It was an Asian species. Like our Chinese pheasant it was introduced as a game bird. But where? The Peterson Guide map show its range is in the American West and our British Columbia. How did the Chukar get here? Alberta Clipper? One thing I found out. It eats Russian olives and Ross Bearss has these trees at his Ridge home.