Sandgrouse | Pteroclidae

Zandhoenders | Gangas y ortegas

The most remarkable feature lies in the male's belly feathers: their barbules coil up when wetted and hold water like a sponge. He soaks his underparts at the drinking place, flies back, and the chicks strip the water out of his plumage with their bills — nothing else in the bird world does this. The nest is no more than an unlined shallow scrape holding usually three elongated eggs, equally blunt at both ends; the pair take turns incubating, with the male sitting through the night. The downy chicks leave the scrape within a day and pick up their own seed from the start; only the water is brought to them.