- Pterocles exustus
Identification
31–33 cm (12¼-13 in)
- Buffy beige
- Dark underwing
- Barred, elongated central tail feathers
Distribution
Central and northern Africa and southern Asia.
Northern Africa: occurs only in Egypt
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Iran
Asia: Pakistan, India and Bangladesh
Introduced on the Island of Hawaii, and persistent in the thoroughly ranched area between the town of Waimea, the west slope of Mauna Kea and Hualalai.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Pterocles exustus has six subspecies:[1]
- P. e. exustus
- Mauritania and Senegambia and east to Sudan
- P. e. floweri
- Egypt - thought extinct but recently rediscovered
- P. e. ellioti
- P. e. olivascens
- P. e. erlangeri
- Western and southern Arabian Peninsula
- P. e. hindustan
Habitat
Arid semi-desert, usually with thorny scrub and trees.
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of small hard seeds.
Gallery
Click images to see larger version
Juvenile
Photo © by Shantilal Varu
Kutch, Gujarat, India, June 2016
Parent & Chick
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Gurgaon, India, May 2014
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved June 2016)
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 14 May 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Chestnut-bellied_Sandgrouse
External Links
