Pin-tailed Sandgrouses
Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (Female)
Recordings 
Scientific Name 
Pterocles alchata
Arabic Name 
الغطاطة
Kuwaiti name 
القطا النغاق
Family 
Width 
60.0 cm
Length 
35.0 cm
Least Concern

Information

Irregular winter visitor and passage migrant; rare summer visitor. Formerly a common breeding bird in Kuwait, prized by hunters, numbers visiting now in decline; up to 900 recorded in early April 1968. A desert bird that will fly great distances to obtain water.
Where in Kuwait 
Primarily a desert species that does not often come to ground, normally seen flying overhead at high speed in small flocks in the north of the country
In the world 
It has an extremely large range with a stable population. The nominate race breeds in Iberia and southern France, and the eastern form P. a. caudacutus is found in northwest Africa, and from southeast Turkey east to Kazakhstan. It is a partial migrant, with some Asian birds moving to the Middle East and northern Pakistan in winter.
Local threats 
Indiscriminate hunting and loss of habitat