Sandgrouse

Sandgrouse, pintail sandgrouse ( ♂ ♀ ), Desert Flughuhn

  • Grouse ( Syrrhaptes )
  • Actual Sandgrouse ( Pterocles )

Sandgrouse ( Pteroclidae ) are ground birds that inhabit in 16 kinds desert steppes and semi-deserts of Eurasia and Africa. The members of this family are very uniform in overall appearance, behavior and reproductive biology.

Features

Sandgrouse are partridge - pigeons to size with a weight of 150 to 400 g, have short beaks, short legs, a rounded body and a small head. Some species (eg flight skewer chicken) have extended to wings and tail feathers. In adaptation to its environment their plumage is decorated in brown and green tones, predominantly sand and ocher- colored with black ribbons and polka dots. The legs are feathered in the steppe chickens and the toes.

Habitat

Sandgrouse prefer as habitat desert-like areas, but are not tied exclusively to deserts. Thus, the Madagascar Sandgrouse inhabited the green hills of the eponymous island, while the brown abdominal Sandgrouse even mainly staying near water.

Way of life

Since Sandgrouse preferred areas with very high temperatures and little or no shade donors inhabit and feed mainly on seeds ( legumes), they need to drink regularly. They are nomadic, some change seasonally between breeding and winter areas, such as Yellow -throated Sandgrouse and Senegal - flight chicken. At dusk they seek in large flocks to water points, which can be up to 50 km away. The males of breeding pairs crouch while up to the belly in the water points and swing her body back and forth. Here, her belly plumage sucks full of water. Thus, the male flies back to the nest and leaves the boy suck the water out of the plumage. The nests of Sandgrouse are small depressions that are barely padded. The female lays two to three times a year for about three eggs, which are incubated by both parents. The incubation period is 21 to 23 days.

System

The systematics of the sandgrouse has long been controversial. So they have been assigned by the zoologists of the order of the Wat, chicken or pigeon birds because their appearance and some behaviors remember ( ground-nesting birds, precocial, beak shape ) to Galliformes such as partridge or rock chickens. Way of flying and some anatomical details again seems the Sandgrouse more likely to connect with the pigeons, while other features such as the absence of the cere, the skull structure or anatomy of the digestive tract are more reminiscent of waders. Today they form a separate order. The only family of this order are the Sandgrouse, Pteroclidae. The following genera and species are found in this family:

  • Pteroclidae family, Sandgrouse Genus Syrrhaptes, grouse Sand grouse, S. paradoxus
  • Tibetan sand grouse, p Tibetanus
  • Subgenus Pterocles Spit Sandgrouse, P. alchata
  • Tüpfelflughuhn, P. burchelli
  • Crown Sandgrouse, P. coronatus
  • Mask Sandgrouse, P. decoratus
  • Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse -, P. exustus
  • Yellow -throated Sandgrouse, P. gutturalis
  • Nama Sandgrouse, P. namaqua
  • Sandgrouse, P. orientalis
  • Madagascar Sandgrouse, P. personatus
  • Three -banded Sandgrouse, P. quadricinctus
  • Senegal Sandgrouse, P. senegallus
  • Stripe Sandgrouse, P. lichtensteinii
  • Dual band Flight chicken, P. bicinctus
  • Indian Sandgrouse, P. indicus
Thomas Henry Huxley Namaqua Sandgrouse
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