Sand Partridge
Ammoperdix heyi
A small, sandy-colored partridge of rocky arid zones. The male has a gray head with white ear patches and prominent bars on its sides. Females are plainer with more subdued patterns. Produces a high-pitched whistling noise from its wings when taking off. Runs on rocky slopes, wadis, and plains in pairs or small groups. The male gives a repeating, far-carrying “ku ku ku…”, often from a prominent rock.
Identification
The sand partridge is a rotund bird, mainly sandy-brown with wavy white and brown flank stripes. It ranges from 22-25 cm in height, and 180-200 g in weight. Its wingspan ranges from 39–41 cm. They can live for up to 4 years.<p>When disturbed, sand partridge prefers to run rather than fly, but if necessary it flies a short distance on rounded wings. The song is a slurred kwa-kwa-kwa<p>Males are larger than the females and have orange bills, rather than dull yellowish bills. The male has a grey head with a white stripe in front of the eye and a white cheek patch. The neck sides are plain, and not speckled with white. The head pattern is the best distinction from the see-see partridge. Females are a very washed-out version of males. They are sandier and greyer than males with fewer markings and have pinkish bars instead of white spots on the side of the neck. Females are more difficult to distinguish from its relative due to the weak head pattern. Male and female juveniles resemble adult females.
Taxonomy
The sand partridge is one of 185 species in the ground-living family Phasianidae, the most-species rich clade in the Galliformes order. The Phasianidae family has a subfamily Phasianinae, which was considered monophyletic up until the 1990s until molecular phylogenies showed that its placement is indeed paraphyletic. The Phasianinae subfamily has two acknowledged clades: the erectile clade and the non-erectile clade (an erectile trait is a feathery or fleshy region on the head that some birds possess. It mainly evolved as a sexual signal. The sand partridge is part of the non-erectile clade, as they do not possess an erectile trait. These two clades are believed to have diverged during the early Oligocene, around 30 million years ago.
- Scientific name
- Ammoperdix heyi
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1825)
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Phasianidae
- Genus
- Ammoperdix
Range and habitat
Sand partridges are endemic across the Middle East.Populations are distributed across Eastern Egypt, Eastern Sudan, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The four subspecies of the sand partridge are native to specific parts of the Middle East. The Ammoperdix heyi heyi is distributed from the Jordan Valley to the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula to Saudi Arabia. The Ammopredix heyi nicolli is distributed across Northern Egypt. The Ammoperdix heyo cholmleyi is distributed from Egypt to Northern Sudan. The Ammoperdix heyi intermedius is distributed from Western Saudi Arabia to Yemen east into Oman and to the Musandam Peninsula in the UAE.<p>Sand partridges can be found in desert ecosystems with scattered vegetation and boulders. They prefer steep, boulder-strewn slopes with sandy-bottomed wadis and ridges up to 2000 m and valleys down to 400 m below sea level. Sand partridges are rarely found in large stretches of dry, flat, or open desert as they require a water source for drinking. The sand partridge is non-migratory, so it breeds and spends its year in these habitats.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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