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Sandgrouse
Syrrhaptes or Pterocles
35.6923, 101.954
Field Notes
Description:
This looks like a Sandgrouse, although this would be the only one I've seen firsthand. I make my assessment based on the gray of the bird's belly and neck, the orange of its face and wings, the black of its tail, black barring on its rump, and its overall shape. http://www.lynxeds.com/plate/plate-1-volume-4 http://www.darvillsrareprints.com/images/images/Jardine%20Game%20Birds/… http://luirig.altervista.org/pics/display.php?pos=20019
Habitat:
What it's doing out in the open, solitary, perched on a tree trunk on a forested mountain scanning the land like a bird of prey is beyond me! It must be preparing for breeding season, since (according to the Wikipedia entry for "Tibetan Sandgrouse") "This species breeds from May to June on the arid stony plateau and ridges, the nest site generally chosen near the top of the ridge on the leeward side" and is "generally not wary." The bird was sighted at the end of April and was, indeed, on the leeward side of the mountain--though it wasn't per se a "stony" mountain. Perhaps it was still in transit to its stony nesting mountain of choice.
Notes:
I photographed this bird at 3:20pm on April 30, 2013 in a very quiet valley.
35°41'32.21"N
101°57'15.36"E
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