All species › Sandgrouse
Sandgrouse | Pterocliformes
Zandhoenderachtigen | Gangas
Compact birds of dry, open, treeless country: small head, short neck, stout body and very long pointed wings that carry them in fast, direct flight. The dense plumage is finely marked in sand, ochre and grey and covers even the bare tracts most birds have between their feather fields, which helps against midday heat and night cold alike; the legs are feathered to the toes, or at least along the front. They live almost entirely on small dry seeds picked off the ground, and must therefore drink every day. For that they gather in flocks at fixed times at a waterhole, soon after sunrise or towards dusk, sometimes tens of kilometres from where they feed.
Families in this order
- Sandgrouse | Pteroclidae5 speciesThe 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.