#sandgrouse

photograph by Moshe Ben Artzi

(Image: A Namaqua sandgrouse (Pterocles namaqua) by Peter Chadwick)

Pintailed Sandgrouse - Across the Middle East

The second photo features a male (left) and female (right).

March 5, 2026 - Crowned Sandgrouse (Pterocles coronatus) Found in a spotty range across North Africa and West Asia east to parts of southern Pakistan, these sandgrouse live in desert and semi-desert habitats. They eat mostly seeds, as well as some shoots, and gather at waterholes to drink in the morning and sometimes evening. They nest on the ground in scrapes in pebbles or sand, sometimes ringed by small stones. Females lay clutches of three or occasionally two eggs. The parents, especially the males, bring water to the chicks by soaking it up in the downy feathers of their chests and transporting it over long distances.

pallas’s sandgrouse is a medium-to-large member of the sandgrouse family with a range within eurasia. while this bird has a slender, pigeon-like head and neck, they have a more compact and heavyweight body. the sexes are similar, but females are duller in coloration and lack the gray breast band found on the male. these birds almost entirely feed off of dry seeds, giving them a need for a high water intake; male parents bring water to their chicks by soaking their chest feathers in puddles. this species’ feet are unique, with an appearance more like a paw than an avian foot; the first three toes are fused together, and the species forgoes a back toe entirely.

by Tselmeg Tumendelger

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse