Namaqua sandgrouse

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Namaqua sandgrouse
Male
Female

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pterocliformes
Family: Pteroclidae
Genus: Pterocles
Species:
P. namaqua
Binomial name
Pterocles namaqua
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Map
IUCN range
  Extant (resident)

The Namaqua sandgrouse (Pterocles namaqua), is a species of ground-dwelling bird in the sandgrouse family. It is found in arid regions of south-western Africa.

Taxonomy

The Namaqua sandgrouse was

monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[5]

Description

The sandgrouse is a medium-sized bird with a plump body, small head and short legs. It grows to a length of about 28 centimetres (11 in). The male has an orangish buff head, throat and chest delineated by a conspicuous narrow band of white and dark brown. The back and wings are mottled brown with large white specks and there are two long black filaments extending from the olive-brown tail. The colouring of the female and juvenile is more cryptic being generally various shades of brown patterned with white specks.[7] It could be confused with the double-banded sandgrouse (Pterocles bicinctus) and Burchell's sandgrouse (Pterocles burchelli), which share the same range.

Distribution and habitat

The Namaqua sandgrouse can be found in various arid parts of South Africa and its neighbouring lands. It is common in the Kalahari Desert, the Nama Karoo (in central and western South Africa), and in parts of the Western Cape. In addition, it is also found in Namibia (especially in the Namib Desert), Zimbabwe, Botswana and Angola.

It favours deserts and other arid areas. In order to survive, this bird needs only seeds, some gravel, and easy access to some sort of fresh water source. Their habitat usually has rough vegetation and tussock-type grasses. [8]

Behaviour

Outside the breeding season, the sandgrouse are gregarious. The birds converge on watering holes in the early morning and several dozens or even hundreds of individuals may congregate in one place. They also tend to spend the night in groups, congregating about an hour before dusk. They split up during the day into much smaller groups to feed.

Feeding

Their principal diet is seeds but they also eat leaves, flowers, small fruit, insects and molluscs.[7] They forage by exploring loose soil with their beaks and flicking it away sideways.[9]

Breeding

Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

Breeding takes place at any time of the year and is dependent on rainfall. Usually the nests are solitary but sometimes several pairs of birds choose sites near each other. The nest is a scrape in the earth, scantily lined with dried plant material. Two or three pinkish-grey eggs with brown markings are laid over the course of a few days. Incubation starts after the last egg has been laid and lasts about 22 days. The female does the incubation by day and the male does a longer shift at night, starting about two hours before sunset and finishing two hours after dawn.

precocial
and able to leave the nest on the day they are hatched. The male brings them water absorbed on the specially adapted feathers of his breast. The chicks grow rapidly; they are fully feathered at three weeks and able to fly at six.

Status and threats

The species is common within its range and is considered to be of

Moniliformis kalahariensis.[11]

References

  1. ^ . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 754.
  3. ^ Latham, John (1783). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 2, Part 2. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. pp. 750–751.
  4. ^ Temminck, Coenraad Jacob (1815). Histoire Naturelle Générale des Pigeons et des Gallinacés (in French). Vol. 3. Amsterdam: J. C. Sepp et fils. pp. 238, 712.
  5. ^
    Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse"
    . IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  6. .
  7. ^ a b c "Ganga namaqua". Oiseaux.net. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  8. ^ "Namaqua Sandgrouse {Pterocles namaqua}". www.sa-venues.com. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  9. ^ a b "Pterocles namaqua (Namaqua sandgrouse)". Biodiversity. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  10. S2CID 84241760
    .
  11. .

External links