Crowned, spotted, pintailed and black-bellied
sandgrouse made my heart race as they swept in for their morning drink before disappearing out into the desert wastes again.
Grasslands, which once covered large areas of all continents except Antarctica, have largely disappeared--and with them many birds, including once-abundant prairie-chickens, bustards, and
sandgrouse. In North America, the great grasslands that covered 40 percent of what is now the United States when the Europeans first arrived have declined to 1 percent of the country today.
After his soak, the
sandgrouse returns home, with feathers still dripping with fresh water.
Muscat: Wildlife rangers arrested two Omani nationals for hunting wild crowned
sandgrouse in Hima area of the wilayat of Al Mudhaibi.
The Red Fox and Arabian Lynx live in the sanctuary, which is a safe haven for many migratory and endemic birds, like Hoopoe, Indian Roller, Pipit, Merops, Egyptian Eagle, and See-see Partridge, owls, Crowned
Sandgrouse, Wild Pigeons, Falcon, Curlew, and Seagull.
(1988), according to Richardson (1990), are believed to have been based on Mengel's original paper, Richardson also noting that "These records are under review to rule out Bar-tailed Godwit..." Richardson (in litt., 4 June 2012), also noted that the record had not been accepted for inclusion in the checklist of the Arabian Gulf states published in
Sandgrouse volume 1 (Bundy & Warr 1980).
--, 1997, Handbook of the birds of the world:
sandgrouse to cuckoos.
And for nature lovers the dunes are teeming with bird life, including the Namaqua
sandgrouse, sociable weaver and Africa's smallest raptor - the pygmy falcon.
These birds are represented in South America by seed-snipes (family Thinochoridae) and in Asia by the
sandgrouse and pin-tailed
sandgrouse (family Pteroclidae).
Oystercatchers; Ibisbill; Avocets and Stilts; Pratincoles; Plovers and Lapwings; Gulls and Turns; Skuas and Jaegers; Skimmers; Alcids; Loons;
Sandgrouse; Olive Warbler and Solitaires; Pigeons and Doves; Parrots and Macaws; Cockatoos; Lories and Lorikeets.
Nonetheless, the success rate of the capturing technique described here (0.44 captures/attempt) is comparable to that reported for the selective capture of other open-habitat birds when using the night-lighting technique, such as
sandgrouse (0.55 captures/attempt; Benitez-Lopez et al.