Madagascar Sandgrouse
Pterocles personatus
The Madagascar Sandgrouse (Pterocles personatus) is a rare sandgrouse found only in Madagascar, weighing about 245 g. The Madagascar sandgrouse is a species of bird in the family Pteroclidae.
About the Madagascar Sandgrouse
The Madagascar sandgrouse is a species of bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is endemic to Madagascar and is a ground-dwelling short-legged plump bird. The head of the male is brown with a black area surrounding the beak. It has a pinkish-buff coloured breast, a light brown mottled back, brown wings and paler underparts barred with dark brown. The female has a generally duller appearance being cryptically coloured brown with dark specks and bars.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
The Madagascar sandgrouse is a plump bird with a short tail and legs and is easy to identify because both sexes have black underwings and it is the only sandgrouse found in Madagascar. The adult male has a brown head with a distinctive black area surrounding the beak and a yellow ring of bare skin around the eye. The mantle, back and rump are blackish-brown speckled with buff. The flight feathers and main tail feathers are blackish-brown, the upper wing coverts being buff and the tail being barred and tipped with buff.
Where it lives
When to see it
Best months: April, July, August, September, October, November, with peak activity in November. It is a variable species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Madagascar Sandgrouse?
- The Madagascar sandgrouse is a plump bird with a short tail and legs and is easy to identify because both sexes have black underwings and it is the only sandgrouse found in Madagascar. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Madagascar Sandgrouse?
- The Madagascar Sandgrouse is a medium sized bird weighing about 245 g.
- Where can you see a Madagascar Sandgrouse?
- The Madagascar Sandgrouse is endemic to Madagascar, which is the only country where it occurs.
- What birds look similar to a Madagascar Sandgrouse?
- The Madagascar Sandgrouse is most easily confused with the Four-banded Sandgrouse, the Crowned Sandgrouse and the Yellow-throated Sandgrouse.
- Is the Madagascar Sandgrouse endangered?
- The Madagascar Sandgrouse is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Madagascar Sandgrouse for real
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