Crowned sandgrouse

Last updated

Crowned sandgrouse
Pterocles coronatus.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pterocliformes
Family: Pteroclidae
Genus: Pterocles
Species:
P. coronatus
Binomial name
Pterocles coronatus
Pterocles coronatus repartition.svg
World distribution

The crowned sandgrouse (Pterocles coronatus) is a species of bird in the sandgrouse family, the Pteroclidae from North Africa and the Middle East.

Contents

Description

A fairly small sandgrouse which appears rather uniformly coloured from a distance except for darker flight feathers, the wholly dark flight feathers being the best feature to identify crowned sandgrouse from the similar spotted sandgrouse. The dark flight feathers contrast with the sandy upper wing coverts and the creamy underwing coverts. The adult male has a black mask and lacks any grey tones on the neck and breast. The females and immatures lack the black mask and differ from spotted sandgrouse in having dark vermiculations, rather than spots, across the breast and all of the belly and not confined to the breast and upper belly as in spotted sandgrouse. They are 27–29 cm long and have a wingspan of 52–63 cm. [3]

Distribution

The crowned sandgrouse occurs in North Africa and south Asia and is found from Mauritania in the west through the Middle East to Pakistan. [1]

Habitat

The crowned sandgrouse is a bird of deserts, preferring stony deserts rather than sandy ones. [4] In North Africa breeds among dark red sandstone which matches its plumage colour. Avoids areas with too much vegetation. [5]

Habits

The crowned sandgrouse is rather nomadic in the dry season and is recorded away from areas where breeding is known. For example, it is scarce in Libya north of 32°N but is frequent at Wadi Caam in the dry season of June to September. It is gregarious outside the breeding season, especially when visiting water resources which it flies to in early and mid morning and again towards sunset. It mainly feeds on hard seeds but also feeds on shoots of grass and other plants. [5]

The nest is a shallow depression on open ground and has no lining, although there may be a circle of stomes around the nest as the birds move any small stomes within the depression to the rim when they start laying. Clutch is 2-3 eggs which are incubated for just over three weeks and the chicks fledge in 24–28 days. [5]

Taxonomy

Previously the crowned sandgrouse was included in genus Eremialector and recent studies suggest that it is part of a clade that also includes the yellow-throated sandgrouse P. gutturalis and the Madagascar sandgrouse P. personatus; and these may form a group along with the two Syrrhaptes species, black-bellied sandgrouse P. orientalis, Namaqua sandgrouse P. namaqua and chestnut-bellied sandgrouse P. exustus, and possibly including also P. alchata and P. burchelli; further study is required. [4]

Five subspecies are currently recognised: [2] [4]

Crowned sandgrouse Shirahmad wildlife refuge of Sabzevar 003.jpg
Crowned sandgrouse

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandgrouse</span> Family of birds

Sandgrouse is the common name for Pteroclidae, a family of sixteen species of bird, members of the order Pterocliformes. They are traditionally placed in two genera. The two central Asian species are classified as Syrrhaptes and the other fourteen species, from Africa and Asia, are placed in the genus Pterocles. They are ground-dwelling birds restricted to treeless, open country, such as plains, savannahs, and semi-deserts. They are distributed across northern, southern, and eastern Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, and India through central Asia. The ranges of the black-bellied sandgrouse and the pin-tailed sandgrouse even extend into the Iberian Peninsula and France, and Pallas's sandgrouse occasionally breaks out in large numbers from its normal range in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pin-tailed sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The pin-tailed sandgrouse is a medium large bird in the sandgrouse family. It has a small, pigeon-like head and neck and a sturdy, compact body. It has long pointed wings, which are white underneath, a long tail and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn. The call is a loud kattar-kattar. This gregarious species breeds on dry open treeless plains and similar habitats. Its nest is a ground scrape into which two or three cream-coloured eggs with cryptic markings are laid. Both sexes incubate the eggs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-bellied sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The black-bellied sandgrouse is a medium large bird in the sandgrouse family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four-banded sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The four-banded sandgrouse is a medium-sized bird in the sandgrouse family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namaqua dove</span> Species of bird

The Namaqua dove is a small pigeon. It is the only species in the genus Oena. It is found over much of Sub-Saharan Africa as well as Arabia and Madagascar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The chestnut-bellied sandgrouse or common sandgrouse is a species of sandgrouse. It is a sedentary and nomadic species that ranges from northern and central Africa and further east towards western and southern Asia. There are six recognised subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bar-breasted firefinch</span> Species of bird

The bar-breasted firefinch is a common species of estrildid finch found in western and central Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 2,900,000 km².

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden nightjar</span> Species of bird

The golden nightjar is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Sahel region in northern Sub-Saharan Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double-banded sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The double-banded sandgrouse is a species of predominantly terrestrial, or ground-dwelling, bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is found in arid parts of southern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burchell's sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

Burchell's sandgrouse is a species of bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is found in arid and semi-arid regions of southern Africa. The name of this bird commemorates the English naturalist William John Burchell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lichtenstein's sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

Lichtenstein's sandgrouse is a species of bird in the Pteroclidae family, which is named after Martin Lichtenstein. They are nomadic, mostly nocturnal birds, which drink before dawn and after dusk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namaqua sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The Namaqua sandgrouse, is a species of ground-dwelling bird in the sandgrouse family. It is found in arid regions of south-western Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madagascar sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The Madagascar sandgrouse is a species of bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is endemic to Madagascar and is a ground-dwelling short-legged plump bird. The head of the male is brown with a black area surrounding the beak. It has a pinkish-buff coloured breast, a light brown mottled back, brown wings and paler underparts barred with dark brown. The female has a generally duller appearance being cryptically coloured brown with dark specks and bars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spotted sandgrouse</span> Species of bird

The spotted sandgrouse is a species of ground dwelling bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is found in arid regions of northern and eastern Africa and across the Middle East and parts of Asia as far east as northwest India. It is a gregarious, diurnal bird and small flocks forage for seed and other vegetable matter on the ground, flying once a day to a waterhole for water. In the breeding season pairs nest apart from one another, the eggs being laid in a depression on the stony ground. The chicks leave the nest soon after hatching and eat dry seed, the water they need being provided by the male which saturates its belly feathers with water at the waterhole. The spotted sandgrouse is listed as being of "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in its Red List of Threatened Species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-rumped wheatear</span> Species of bird

The red-rumped wheatear or buff-rumped wheatear is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in North Africa and the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spotted barbtail</span> Species of bird

The spotted barbtail is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2016). "Pterocles coronatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22693005A93378195. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22693005A93378195.en . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Pterocles coronatus Lichtenstein, 1823". Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (https://www.itis.gov). Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  3. Mark Beaman; Steve Madge (1998). The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic. Christopher Helm. p. 470. ISBN   0-7136-3960-1.
  4. 1 2 3 De Juana, Eduardo; Kirwan, Guy M. (2020). Del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi; Christie, David; De Juana, Eduardo (eds.). "Crowned Sandgrouse (Pterocles coronatus)". HBW Alive. Lynx Edicions. doi:10.2173/bow.crosan1.01. S2CID   226398826 . Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  5. 1 2 3 Snow, D.W.; Perrins, C.M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic Concise Edition Volume 1 Non-Passerines. Oxford University Press. pp. 828–829. ISBN   0-19-850187-0.