Appearance
A fairly small sandgrouse which appears rather uniformly coloured from a distance except for darker flight feathers, the wholly dark flight feathers being the best feature to identify crowned sandgrouse from the similar spotted sandgrouse. The dark flight feathers contrast with the sandy upper wing coverts and the creamy underwing coverts. The adult male has a black mask and lacks any grey tones on the neck and breast. The females and immatures lack the black mask and differ from spotted sandgrouse in having dark vermiculations, rather than spots, across the breast and all of the belly and not confined to the breast and upper belly as in spotted sandgrouse. They are 27–29 cm long and have a wingspan of 52–63 cm.
Distribution
The crowned sandgrouse occurs in North Africa and south Asia and is found from Mauritania in the west through the Middle East to Pakistan.
Habitat
The crowned sandgrouse is a bird of deserts, preferring stony deserts rather than sandy ones. In North Africa breeds among dark red sandstone which matches its plumage colour. Avoids areas with too much vegetation.References:
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