[2] This bird is a resident from eastern Turkey, across the Caucasus, east into Central Asia and on to western China and Mongolia and south into the Kashmir.

Mountainous areas of stony desert or semi-arid scrub and rocky slopes are favoured for breeding.

It is native to Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, India, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

[5] It was first recorded in Azerbaijan at Bulgan in early May 1912 (Beme 1926) [6] Bulgan is in the Nakhchivan region, which is separated from the main part of the country by a strip of Armenian territory; Kirwan & Konrad (1995) [7] incorrectly list this site as being in Armenia.

In Turkey, the species' occurrence in the far east of the country is well documented, e.g. Kirwan & Conrad (1995),[7] Roselaar (1995).