Namaqua Sandgrouse
Pterocles namaqua
A dumpy, short-legged, pigeon-like bird that shuffles awkwardly on the ground and flies in a fast and direct manner, singly or in groups. It has a long, pointed tail and sharply-pointed wings. The male has a pair of black-and-white bands across the chest and has a plain buffy face and head; the female is mottled with black, brown, and white..Namaqua Sandgrouse is nomadic in desert, semi-desert, and arid savanna. It feeds on grass seed and can frequently be seen coming to drink in the early morning or at dusk. Call a far-carrying, tremulous, musical “Kelkiw-wyn”.
Identification
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. It could be confused with the double-banded sandgrouse (Pterocles bicinctus) and Burchell's sandgrouse (Pterocles burchelli), which share the same range.
Taxonomy
The Namaqua sandgrouse was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the grouse like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao namaqua. Gmelin based his description on the "Namaqua grous" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. The Namaqua sandgrouse is now placed with 13 other species in genus Pterocles that was introduced in 1815 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek pteron meaning "wing" with -klēs meaning "notable" or "splendid". The specific epithet namaqua is from Namaqualand, a region in Namibia and South Africa, the type locality. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Pterocles namaqua
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Pterocliformes
- Family
- Pteroclidae
- Genus
- Pterocles
Range 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.<p>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.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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