Its main stronghold was the northern An Nafud northwards to the Syrian Desert, between latitudes 34°N and 25°N and longitude 38°E eastwards to the Euphrates Valley, and it was most plentiful in Al Jawf Province, where it associated with herds of Saudi gazelle and Arabian oryx, animals that are now extinct or very rare respectively. Some of the last sightings include an individual east of the Tall al-Rasatin at the Jordanian-Iraqi border in 1928, a bird shot and eaten by pipeline workers in the area of Jubail in the early 1940s (some sources specifically state 1941), two apocryphal records of birds suffering the same fate in 1948, and a dying individual found in the upper Wadi el-Hasa north of Petra in 1966. Remains of old eggs are still found in the former range of the southern subpopulation, which disappeared between the 1900s and the 1920s, probably mainly because of increasing aridity.
The species' habitat was primarily located in the northern An Nafud region, extending from latitudes 34°N to 25°N and longitude 38°E eastwards to the Euphrates Valley. It was most abundant in Al Jawf Province, where it shared its environment with herds of Saudi gazelle and Arabian oryx, which are now extinct or extremely rare respectively. Some sightings include an individual sighted near Tall al-Rasatin at the Jordanian-Iraqi border in 1928, a bird shot and eaten by pipeline workers in Jubail around the early 1940s (some sources specify 1941), two anecdotal accounts of birds meeting the same fate in 1948, and a dying individual found in the upper Wadi el-Hasa north of Petra in 1966. Remains of old eggs are still discovered in the former range of the southern subpopulation, which disappeared between the 1900s and the 1920s, likely due to increasing aridity.