Tibetan Sandgrouse

     The Tibetan Sandgrouse is a species of Sandgrouse, which is found in mountain ranges in Central Asia, Tibet, Central China and the Himalayas. These birds are distinctive with their pale orange faces and throats, and the fine black barring on their crowns and the breasts.

     Tibetan sandgrouse have sandy upperparts, with bold black spotting on their shoulders, and white lower breasts and bellies. The male has unbarred sandy mantle and wing coverts, and fawn wash across the lower breast. While, the female Tibetan sandgrouse has fine black barring on the mantle and wing coverts, and more extensive black barring on the breast.

     The Tibetan sandgrouse and the closely related Pallas’s Sandgrouse with which its habitat range overlaps, are the only sandgrouse species that have feathered legs and toes. As a matter of fact, both species are quite similar in appearance, however the Tibetan sandgrouse can be easily distinguished by its white belly and dark underwings.

     The breeding season of the Tibetan sandgrouse is from May to June. The nest is a ground scrape in which 3 eggs are laid. Both sexes of the Tibetan sandgrouse incubate the eggs and rear the hatchlings till they become independent.