The spotted sandgrouse (Pterocles senegallus) is a species of ground dwelling bird in the family Pteroclidae.

It is a gregarious, diurnal bird and small flocks forage for seed and other vegetable matter on the ground, flying once a day to a waterhole for water.

The male has a small reddish-brown nape surrounded by a band of pale grey that extends to the bill and round the neck in a collar.

In Africa its range extends through Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger.

In the Middle East it is native to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan and its range extends as far as Pakistan and north west India.

[2] The spotted sandgrouse is a ground-dwelling bird and feeds on seeds and other plant material that it finds among the scrubby vegetation of its dry habitat.

In the Sahara the spotted sandgrouse are particularly fond of a species of spurge and concentrate on this until the foliage begins to parch, after which the birds return to their normal diet of seeds.

Their chief enemy is the lanner falcon which flies rapidly just above the ground and scoops up any unwary bird.

When all is safe, another distinctive call from the sentinel bird sends all the others to the pool where their daily water needs are taken up within about fifteen seconds.

There are no jerboas or other small mammals in these barren wastes so foxes and jackals do not roam there at night and the birds are safe.

Also desirable are one or two "cover stones" close by, chosen because their dense structure attracts dew at night, moisture which drains into the soil and gets absorbed by the porous rock which helps keep the nest cool by day.

Soon after they are hatched the female leads the chicks to one of the many wadis that wind across the plains and there she teaches them to peck at and ingest seeds.

When the female and chicks pick up the sounds of his approach, they reciprocate, and by this means the male can find his family even when they have moved away from the nest.

[11] If danger threatens, the chicks crouch under a plant or any cover that offers, their dappled brown down merging into the desert scene.