Pterocliformes

Sandgrouse

(Pteroclididae)

Class: Aves

Order: Pterocliformes

Family: Pteroclidae

Number of families:: 1

Thumbnail description
Medium-sized, pigeon-like birds, with a stocky body, small head, short bill and legs, and camouflaged plumage

Size
9.8–19 in (25–48 cm); 0.7–1.2 lb (130–550 g)

Number of genera, species
2 genera; 16 species

Habitat
Desert, semi-desert, open steppe, and dry savanna, always within flying range of drinking water

Conservation status
Not threatened

Distribution
Africa, Madagascar, Iberian and Arabian peninsulas, Middle East to Indian subcontinent, China, and Mongolia

Resources

Ali, Sálim, and S. Dillon Ripley. Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Vol. 3. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1969.

Feduccia, Alan. The Origin and Evolution of Birds. 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.

Johnsgard, Paul A. Bustards, Hemipodes, and Sandgrouse: Birds of Dry Places. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Maclean, Gordon Lindsay. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 6th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, 1993.

Maclean, G.L., and C.H. Fry. "Pteroclidae, sandgrouse." In The Birds of Africa, Vol. 2., edited by Emil K. Urban, et al. London: Academic Press, 1986.

Sibley, Charles G., and Jon E. Ahlquist. Phylogeny and Classification of Birds. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.

Cade, T.J., and G.L. Maclean. "Transport of water by adult sandgrouse to their young." Condor 69 (1967): 323–343.

Kalchreuter, Heribert. "The breeding season of the chestnut-bellied sandgrouse Pterocles exustus and the black-faced sandgrouse P. decoratus in northern Tanzania and its relation to rainfall." Proceedings of the 4th Pan-African Ornithological Congress (1976): 277–282.

Lloyd, Penn, et al. "Rainfall and food availability as factors influencing the migration and breeding activity of Namaqua sandgrouse Pterocles namaqua." Ostrich 72, no. 1 and 2 (2001): 50–62.

Maclean, G.L. "Die systematische Stellung der Flughühner (Pteroclididae)." Journal für Ornithologie 108 (1967): 203–217.

Maclean, G.L. "Field studies on the sandgrouse of the Kalahari Desert." Living Bird 7 (1968): 209–235.

Maclean, G.L. "Adaptations of sandgrouse for life in arid lands." Proceedings of the 16th International Ornithological Congress (1974): 502–516.

Maclean, G.L. "Evolutionary trends in the sandgrouse." Malimbus 6 (1984): 75–78.

Maclean, G.L. "Sandgrouse: models of adaptive compromise." South African Journal of Wildlife Research 15 (1985): 1–6.

Simiyu, A. "Some aspects of demography and movement patterns of sandgrouse in southern Kenya." Ostrich 69, no. 3 and 4 (1998): 452.

Thomas, D.H. "Adaptations of desert birds: sandgrouse (Pteroclididae) as highly successful inhabitants of Afro-Asian arid lands." Journal of Arid Environments 7 (1984): 157–181.

African Gamebird Research, Education and Development (AGRED). P.O. Box 1191, Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal 3245 South Africa. Phone: +27-33-343-3784. E-mail: plloyd@ botzoo.uct.ac.za

Lloyd, Penn, et al. "The population dynamics of the Namaqua sandgrouse: implications for gamebird management in an arid, stochastic environment." Proceedings of the 22nd International Ornithological Congress, Durban, South Africa. Compact disk. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa, 1999.

[Article by: Gordon Lindsay Maclean, PhD, DSc]

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: pigeon-like bird of arid regions of the Old World having long pointed wings and tail and precocial downy young
  Synonym: sand grouse

Sandgrouse
Pallas's Sandgrouse
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Pteroclidiformes Family: Pteroclididae Bonaparte, 1831
Genera
Pterocles Syrrhaptes

Sandgrouse is also the name of the journal of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East - see Sandgrouse (journal)

The sandgrouse are a group of 16 near passerine bird species in the order Pteroclidiformes. They are restricted to treeless open country in the Old World, such as plains and semi-deserts.

Sandgrouse have small, pigeon like heads and necks, but sturdy compact bodies. They have long pointed wings and sometimes tails and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn and dusk.

Legs are feathered down to the toes, and genus Syrrhaptes has the toes feathered as well.

Two to three eggs are laid directly on the ground. They are buff or greenish with cryptic markings. Most species are resident, but Pallas's Sandgrouse is eruptive.

Sandgrouse are traditionally placed in two genera. Two central Asian species in Syrrhaptes, and the rest in Pterocles, but recent research casts some doubt on this division.

Genera

• Syrrhaptes
• Pterocles

External links

• Sandgrouse videos on the Internet Bird Collection

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