From Opus

Photo by rony_roshtov
Nitzana, Israel

Pterocles orientalis

[edit] Identification

33-39cm.
Male

• Grey head, neck and breast
• Black underparts
• Golden-brown upperparts with darker markings
• Thin black border to lower breast
• Chestnut throat patch

Female : Similar to the male but rather more brown. Upperparts, head and breast are more finely marked.

Photo by shorebirder
Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, February 2012

[edit] Distribution

Iberia, northwest Africa, Canary Islands, Turkey, Cyprus and Israel, Kazakhstan, western China and northern Pakistan.

[edit] Taxonomy

Pterocles orientalis has two subspecies:^[1]

• P. o. orientalis

• Fuerteventura Island, Iberian Peninsula and Morocco to western Iran

• P. o. arenarius

• Kazakstan to southern Iran, Afghanistan, and north-western China
• The male is yellower above and greyer below than P. o. orientalis and the female is whiter below.

[edit] Habitat

Dry open plains.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

Its nest is a ground scrape; 3 greenish eggs with cryptic markings are laid. Both sexes incubate, but only the male brings water.

[edit] Vocalisation

The call is a soft chowrrr rrrr-rrrr.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links