Yellow-throated_Sandgrouse

Scientific Name: Pterocles gutturalis

 Introduction:

The Yellow-throated Sandgrouse is a Southern African bird that belongs to the Pteroclidae bird family group which includes birds such as Sandgrouse.

FACT  FILE:

English Name            : Yellow-throated Sandgrouse Scientific Name        : Pterocles gutturalis German Name           : Gelbkehl-Flughuhn Spanish Name          : Ganga Gorgigualda French Name             : Ganga à gorge jaune

Head-Body Length     : 33 cm 

Size                             : 30cm.

Weight                         : 350g.

Distribution                : Etosha, Caprivi, Kwando River

Identification              : The female and male both have a buff-yellow chin and throat. The male is olive-brown and unspotted with a black collar on its foreneck. Upper wing-coverts are tipped with a light cinnamon and flight feathers are blackish brown. highs and belly are a dark chestnut. Females are mottled with fine black bars on their chestnut belly.

Geographic Range  :Southern Africa

 

Diet                            : Plants, weeds and grasses. Also feeds on crop grains such as oats, wheat, sorghum and barley.

Reproduction            : These monogamous birds are also solitary nesters. They lay two to three eggs during the winter. The female incubates the eggs during the day and the male incubates them at night, for a total of 26 days. The female and male both care for the chicks when they hatch.

Social Structure       : Large flocks gather for various reasons: up to 80 birds for drinking, 400 for feeding, and 1,000 for migrating.

Behavior                  : Yellow-throated sandgrouse are very fast and tenacious flyers.

Interesting Facts     : The yellow-throated sandgrouse is the largest of the four South African sandgrouses.

Scientific Classification:

 # Kingdom : Animalia

 

                  # Phylum : Chordata

 

                                 # Class : Aves

                                                  # Order : Columbiformes

                                                                    # Family : Pteroclididae

                                                                                       # Genus : Pterocles

                                                                                                        # Species : P. gutturalis