Crowned Sandgrouse Pterocles coronatus Scientific name definitions

27–30 cm; 240–300 g; wingspan 52–63 cm. Short, but pointed central rectrices; lacks bands or patches on undersides; in flight, dark remiges contrast with paler wing lining. Male has striking head pattern , with rufous or vinaceous crown patch and black mask ; orbital ring and bill bluish. Female has face and throat pale yellow; plumage densely barred or spotted. Distinguished from overall similarly coloured P. senegallus, with which there is much geographical overlap (and in such areas the two species often arrive at waterholes together), by much shorter tail and lack of any dark feathering on belly , while female of present species also closely recalls that of female <em>P. lichtensteinii</em> , but has unmarked yellow throat; voice also useful (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile similar to adult female, with coarser barring, more rufous-buff plumage (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ) and whitish throat. Races show different tones of background colour (apparently closely linked to soil colour, being more rufous in hot deserts, greyer in colder deserts) (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) and variable degree of barring in female: compared to nominate race , male <em>vastitas</em> has slightly browner, less rufous upperparts that are more densely spotted with dark grey, while female is more densely and darkly barred; race saturatus (no records since 1925) (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ) is closest to atratus in overall coloration, but male even darker, washed grey over throat and breast, and female has more broadly and darkly barred underparts; race <em>atratus</em> is darker than both nominate coronatus and vastitas, with duller white spotting (bordered grey and rufous) on more richly patterned wings, and male is more blackish brown above; and both sexes of race ladas are paler than last-named, the male being less rufous and overall greyer (less blackish), while the female is paler and again less rufous than vastitas, with less obvious barring (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Desert and semi-desert, including the very hottest and driest areas  ; prefers stony over sandy substrates, especially in Africa (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), typically inhabiting hammada desert. Also occurs in mountainous areas, e.g. Aïr, Hoggar and Tibesti, including slightly grassed parts and ravines among lava fields (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Sedentary and nomadic. In NE Morocco formerly occurred only in Oct–Mar, but small numbers recently found to breed on the Rekkam Plateau and in the Middle Moulouya (6 Lieron, V., Fontaine, O., Caron, S., Le Nuz, E., Orhant, N., Rautereau, P. and Hingrat, Y. (2007). Contribution à la connaissance de l’avifaune de l’Oriental marocain. Notes sur quelques espèces caractéristiques des steppes. Go-South Bull.. 4: 1–5. Close ); in Chad moves N Apr–Jun; and in parts of Libya seen only in Jun–Sept (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). In Pakistan numbers increase in winter. Some degree of nomadism might be required to explain scatter of occurrences in Yemen and Saudi Arabia (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ), and elsewhere in Morocco species is considered to be somewhat nomadic in non-breeding season, at which time thought to be partially migratory, with some birds moving S to Mauritania and Algeria, returning by late Apr (7 Thévenot, M., R. Vernon, and P. Bergier (2003). The Birds of Morocco: An Annotated Check-list. British Ornithologists’ Union Check-list 20. British Ornithologists’ Union, Tring, UK. Close ).

Feeds mainly on seeds, often small and hard ones; also takes shoots. In Sudan, favours Tephrosia apollinea (Leguminosae); in S Morocco feeds on Asphodelus tenuifolius (Liliaceae). Drinks in morning c. 08:30–10:30 in winter (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ), c. 07:00–09:00 in summer; sometimes also drinks in evening; visits waterholes in company of P. senegallus and, to lesser extent, P. orientalis (7 Thévenot, M., R. Vernon, and P. Bergier (2003). The Birds of Morocco: An Annotated Check-list. British Ornithologists’ Union Check-list 20. British Ornithologists’ Union, Tring, UK. Close ).

Gives soft "kla kla kla" or staccato but far-carrying "cha-chagarra", with a soft bisyllabic "hu hu" repeated 2–3 times in alarm (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); also a descending "wheek" (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); like other sandgrouse calls most frequently when arriving at waterholes (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Season mainly Apr–Jul in NW Africa (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ) (though unfledged young seen as late as end of Sept in Morocco) (7 Thévenot, M., R. Vernon, and P. Bergier (2003). The Birds of Morocco: An Annotated Check-list. British Ornithologists’ Union Check-list 20. British Ornithologists’ Union, Tring, UK. Close ), from Mar in Chad (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ) and Oman (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ), and perhaps opportunistically at any time following rainfall (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Monogamous (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Solitary nester (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), with pairs forming (within winter flocks) during Mar (in Arabia) and then disengaging from them; family groups remain together post-breeding and, again based on Arabian data, begin to form larger aggregation from Sept (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ), although chicks have been reported as late as Aug and even mid-Oct in Oman (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ). Breeding seems unaffected by climatic conditions, occurring even during very dry years (7 Thévenot, M., R. Vernon, and P. Bergier (2003). The Birds of Morocco: An Annotated Check-list. British Ornithologists’ Union Check-list 20. British Ornithologists’ Union, Tring, UK. Close ). Nest is scrape among pebbles or depression in sand, sometimes with ring of small stones around it. Usually three eggs, sometimes two, cream to drab yellowish with pale brown and pale purplish-grey markings, mean size 39·4 mm × 27·4 mm (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); incubation period unknown, but male known to incubate at night, taking over c. 1 hour before sunset; downy chick (much like that of P. namaqua) markedly uniform rufous-buff, with darker facial patch and whitish below, is watered morning and evening (perhaps mainly or solely by male) (1 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); young capable of self-feeding on hatching (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Not globally threatened. Arabian population recently estimated at c. 6000 pairs (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ). Widespread and fairly common as a rule: frequent in Algeria, where is commonest sandgrouse in Ksours Mts and, at any rate formerly (1930s), locally abundant in Hoggar; common in Fezzan and (in 1950s) very common in Tibesti; fairly common in Sudan and Egypt  , but generally uncommon in Morocco  , where rarely seen in flocks larger than 30–40 individuals (7 Thévenot, M., R. Vernon, and P. Bergier (2003). The Birds of Morocco: An Annotated Check-list. British Ornithologists’ Union Check-list 20. British Ornithologists’ Union, Tring, UK. Close ). Quite common in Negev Desert, Israel, although some evidence of recent decline, and very local in neighbouring Jordan (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); widespread but rare in Saudi Arabia, where may have declined or become locally extinct in some areas (8 Rietkerk, F., and T. Wacher (1996) The birds of Thumamah, Central Province, Saudi Arabia. Sandgrouse 18(1):24–52. Close ); common in Dhofar and C Oman (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), where up to 2000 counted in Nov (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ) (but race saturatus, described from N Oman, not definitely seen or recorded since 1920s) (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ); few records in Arabian Gulf States (although has bred ferally on Abu al-Abyad I, United Arab Emirates, following introduction there in 1990s) (3 Jennings, M. C. (2010). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia 25. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Wildlife Commission and Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Frankfurt, Germany. Close ); frequent to common but comparatively local in Pakistan, but no records elsewhere in Indian Subcontinent since 19th century (2 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).