From Opus

Pterocles lichtensteinii

Photo by A Meir.

[edit] Identification

25 cm. Barred black on buff above and below; male distinguished by black-and-white forehead pattern, yellow bill, and two broad breast-bands of buff, each bordered black below.

[edit] Distribution

Mauritania, Ethiopia, Somalia, central Kenya, southern Arabian Peninsula, Socotra, and Pakistan.

[edit] Taxonomy

Pterocles lichtensteinii Temminck, 1825, Nubia. Five subspecies recognized:^[1]

• P. l. targius

• Sahara and Sahel from Morocco and Mauritania to Chad

• P. l. lichtensteinii

• Southern Israel, Sinai and south-eastern Egypt to northern Ethiopia, northern Somalia and Socotra

• P. l. sukensis

• South-eastern Sudan and southern Ethiopia to central Kenya

• P. l. ingramsi

• Southern Yemen

• P. l. arabicus

• Southern Arabia to southern Iran, southern Afghanistan and Pakistan

[edit] Habitat

Rocky or scrubby desert hillsides.

[edit] Behaviour

Diet includes small, hard seeds.

Its nest is a shallow scrape among scattered rocks and vegetation. 2-3 camouflaged eggs are laid.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

• List of references

[edit] External Links