Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Latin Name: 
Pterocles exustus
Category: 
Size: 
28cm
Description: 

Male: sandy-buff above, speckled brown and dull yellow; black gorget and chocolate-black belly. Female: buffy above, streaked and barred darker; black-spotted breast; rufous and black-barred belly and flanks. Pointed central tail feathers and black wing-underside distinctive in flight. Huge gatherings at waterholes in dry season; regularly arrives at water; strictly a ground bird, squatting tight or shuffling slowly; rises en masse.

Habitat: 
Open areas, semi-desert, fallow land.
Distribution: 
All India except NE and extreme south; most common in NW and C India.
Call: 
Call Description: 
Deep, clucking kut…ro… call note, uttered mostly on wing.
National Status: