THE WORLD BIRDS - An Online Bird Book
SANDGROUSE
Order Pteroclidiformes Family Pteroclididae
The
Pteroclidiformes order contains just one family, the
Pteroclididae which is comprised of the
sandgrouse.
Sandgrouse are similar in appearance to doves and pigeons, but unlke them, the sandgrouse cannot drink without tilting their heads back
The sandgrouse are so named because most of the species are found in dry sandy areas. To help blend in with the surroundings their general color is sandy brown. They eat almost exclusively seeds. Compared to a diet of plant greens or animal based, a seed diet is dry which requires the sandgrouse have to drink lots of water. Becasue of their dry locations, that can be problematic. In the morning, large flocks of sandgrouse may fly 10 kilometers or more to a wtering hole, and some species make that round trip twice a day. As a rsult, ths andgrouse have evolved to be fast flyers. The male brings water to the chicks by absorbing it in his breast feathers that are adapted for that purpose. To wet the breast feathers he wades into the water or lies in it.
Genus Pterocles
Sandgrouse,_Black-bellied Pterocles orientalis
Image by: 1)
Joaquim_Coelho 2, 3) Jan_Svetlik 4) Sergey_Yeliseev
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Sandgrouse,_Black-faced Pterocles decoratus
Image by: 1)
Bob- Tanzania
2, 3) Nik_Borrow - Kenya, Kenya, Tsnzania 4)
Dave_Curtis - Kenya
1) Pair - female on left 2) Female 3 - 6) Male



Sandgrouse,_Burchell's Pterocles burchelli
Image by: 1)
Charlie Westerinen - Zimbabwae 2)
Francesco_Veronesi 3)
Derek Keats - South Africa 4)
Ian_White - South Africa



Sandgrouse,_Chestnut-bellied Pterocles exustus
Image by:
1, 3) Nik_Borrow - Somaliland, Tanzania 2) Shashank_shekhar29 4)
Daniel_Columbo - Tanzania
1) Pair - female in background 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Sandgrouse,_Crowned Pterocles coronatus
Image by: 1)
Totodu74 2)
Marcel_Holyoak - Saudi Arabia
Francesco_Veronesi - Morocco
Saeed Davari - Iran



Sandgrouse,_Double-banded Pterocles bicinctus
Image by: 1)
Yathin_Krishnappa 2)
Bernard_Dupont 3)
Arno Meintjes 4)
Marie de Carne
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Sandgrouse,_Four-banded Pterocles quadricinctus
Image by:
1, 2) Charles_J_Sharp - Gambia 3)
Nik_Borrow - Ghana 4)
Steve_Garvie - Gambia
1) Pair 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Sandgrouse,_Lichtenstein's Pterocles lichtensteinii
Image by:
1. 2, 3) Nik_Borrow 4)
Carol Foil - Kenya



Sandgrouse,_Madagascar Pterocles personatus
Image by: 1)
John Gerrard Keulemans 2)
David Cook 3)
Zak_Pohlen
1) Pair 2,3) Male


Sandgrouse,_Namaqu Pterocles namaqua
Image by:
1, 4) Nik_Borrow - Nambia 2)_Frans_Vandewalle
3) Arno Meintjes
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Sandgrouse,_Painted Pterocles indicus
Image by: 1)
Bernard_Dupont 2)
Rudraksha_Chodankar 3)
Koshy_Koshy 3)
Srihari_Kulkarni
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Sandgrouse,_Pin-tailed Pterocles alchata
bImage by: 1,
2, 3) Francesco_Veronesi - Spain 4)
AES



Sandgrouse,_Spotted Pterocles senegallus Found: Africa
Image by: 1)
Vil_Sandi 2)
Ron_Knight 3)
Mike_Pence
1) Pair 2) Female 3) Males


Sandgrouse,_Yellow-throated Pterocles gutturalis
Image by: 1)
Tarique_Sani 2, 3, 4) Nik_Borrow - Tanzania
1, 2) Pair 3) Female 4) Male



Genus Syrrhaptes
Sandgrouse,_Pallas's Syrrhaptes paradoxus Found: Asia
Image by:
1) Sergey_Pisarevskiy - south Siberia 2) Sergey_Yeliseev 3)
Jan_Svetlik 4)
Tomju48
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Sandgrouse,_Tibetan Syrrhaptes tibetanus
Image by: 1)
Dibyendu_Ash 2)
Kulbhushansingh_Suryawanshi 3)
Soumyajit_nandy


HOATZIN
Order Opisthocomiformes Family Opisthocomidae- 1 family
There is much confusion about where to place the
Hoatzin. Many "closest relatives" have been suggested, but all seem to be either only distantly
related, or suggested due to faulty data. Perhaps the sandgrouse are the closest relatives.
Genus Opisthocomus - 1 species
Hoatzin Opisthocomus hoazin
Image by: 1)
Bhardwaj Shanthanu - Buenos Aires, Argentina 2)
Linda
De Volder at the Beni River, Bolivia
3)
Cláudio Timm - the Amazon, Brazil 4)
David Cook - Sacha Lodge, Ecuador
5. 6)
Nick Athanas - Ecuador




