Pterocles senegallus
TAXONOMY
Tetrao senegallus Linnaeus, 1771, “Senegal” = Algeria. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Saharan sandgrouse; French: Ganga tachetй; German:
Wьstenflughuhn; Spanish: Ganga Moteada.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
About 14 in (36 cm); 8.8–12 oz (250–340 g). Both sexes mainly
sandy, pinkish, or a rust-colored buff with yellowish orange
throat. Female spotted blackish brown above and below; male
mostly plain but lightly mottled brownish on wings, looking
fairly uniform in the field. Both sexes have black center of
belly and elongated, central tail feathers.
DISTRIBUTION
From southern Morocco, much of Sahara, through Arabian
Peninsula to Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and northwestern India.
HABITAT
Desert and semi-desert, usually where stony and flat with isolated
patches of vegetation; sometimes in completely bare desert.
BEHAVIOR
Gregarious in flocks of up to about 60, but birds congregate
to drink at watering sites in flocks of several hundred about
two hours after sunrise. Some birds may drink again in
evening. Birds call to each other with a bubbling sound. In
Egypt, may gather with flocks of crowned sandgrouse (Pterocles
coronatus) to feed on grain spilled by trucks traveling from
Nile to Red Sea ports. Nonbreeding flocks roost on ground in
open desert, each bird making a shallow scrape.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Mainly small, hard seeds, including fallen grain. May feed on
insects, but this needs verification.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nests in solitary pairs; makes small unlined scrape, usually
among stones for camouflage. Breeds mostly March to July.
Three camouflaged eggs incubated by female by day and male
by night for up to 31 days. Chicks take water from male’s
soaked belly plumage but feed by themselves on food shown by
parents. When disturbed, chicks may dig themselves into soft
sand for concealment or may hide among stones.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Common to abundant over most of range; extreme arid habitat
means little contact with humans, and therefore, there is little
threat to most populations. Said to be increasing in Somalia.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Generally small but may be hunted occasionally
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