Painted Sandgrouse

     The Painted Sandgrouse is a species of Sandgrouse found in sandy and gravelly plains of India and Pakistan. It’s the only member of the sandgrouse family to be confined to the Indian subcontinent.

     In general, the Painted sandgrouse is a heavily barred bird. The male has a white forehead with a black band, fine black longitudinal lines on the nape, and a whitish-green patch of bare skin around his eyes. There is also a broad chestnut-brown, black and white band around his chest, and close barring on its underparts. The female Painted sandgrouse is heavily barred throughout her entire body, and lacks the bold breast and forehead patterns of the male.

     The Painted sandgrouse resembles the Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, which also occurs in the Indian subcontinent. But both species don’t appear to overlap, and are further distinguished by a number of plumage feathers. It can also be separated from the Chestnut-Bellied Sandgrouse, by breast and forehead markings in the males, and the grey not dark underwings in both sexes.

     After mating, the Painted sandgrouse female lays 2 – 3 (usually 3) eggs in a scrape among stones on earth, commonly shaded by a tree. Both sexes incubate the eggs for 21 – 23 days, and rear the chicks till they become independent.