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Caspian snowcock

species of bird

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 16, 2025
Entity authorityQ1274601 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Caspian snowcock (Tetraogallus caspius) is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds.

It is found in the mountains of eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and throughout the Alborz Mountains of Northern Iran. It breeds at altitudes from 1,800–3,000 m (5,900–9,800 ft) on bare stony ground with some alpine scrub. It nests in a bare ground scrape and lays 6–9 greenish eggs, which are incubated only by the female. Its diet consists of seeds and vegetable matter. It forms small flocks when not breeding.

Description

This snowcock ranges from 56 to 63 cm (22 to 25 in) in length, 95 to 105 cm (37 to 41 in) in wingspan and 1.8 to 2.9 kg (4.0 to 6.4 lb) in weight. Its plumage is patterned with grey, brown, white and black, but this snowcock looks pale gray from any distance. The breast is pale gray, the throat and a white patch on the side of the neck are white, and the nape is dark gray.

In flight, this wary bird shows white flight feathers and undertail.

Editorial summary

“Caspian snowcock” enters the record as species of bird. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Caspian, snowcock and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA sound reference starting point where classification, measurement and the date of the underlying evidence remain visible. The current 180-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Caspian, snowcock and species.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Caspian snowcock” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Caspian, snowcock and species provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1274601. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Caspian snowcock”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Caspian snowcock primary sources, Caspian snowcock archive and Caspian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Caspian snowcock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.