Pterocles alchata
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The pin-tailed sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata) is a medium large bird in the sandgrouse family. It has a small, pigeon-like head and neck and a sturdy, compact body. It has long pointed wings, which are white underneath, a long tail and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn. The call is a loud kattar-kattar. This gregarious species breeds on dry open treeless plains and similar habitats. Its nest is a ground scrape into which two or three cream-coloured eggs with cryptic markings are laid. Both sexes incubate the eggs.
The pin-tailed sandgrouse is about 35 centimetres (14 in) long. Its head and upperparts are yellowish-green. The underparts are white with a chestnut breast band separating the belly from the green neck. Sexes are somewhat similar, but the female is better camouflaged and has a shorter tail than the male. It is a partial migrant, with some Asian birds moving to the Middle East and northern Pakistan in winter. Males of the eastern race have duller underparts than the European birds, and the females have white, rather than yellow, wing coverts. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Warsaw Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 4 | Valencia Bioparc | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Castellar Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | herpetarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 7 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
No species of the same family or order lives in Doñana National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pin-tailed Sandgrouse sighting in Doñana National Park on a given day, based on 81 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 177th most-seen of the 234 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pin-tailed Sandgrouse in Doñana National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pin-tailed Sandgrouse sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Doñana National Park, in our data
Doñana National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Pin-tailed Sandgrouse sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse is recorded against all the birds logged in Doñana National Park (81 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
