Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor)

Other Names (World)
Cream-coloured Courser, Cream-colored Courser, Desert Courser

Family
Glareolidae (Coursers, Pratincoles)

Size
23 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Latham, 1787)

Habitat
Temperate grassland, hot desert. From sea-level - 800 m.

Range (Guide)

Afghanistan (B), Algeria (B) (NB), Bahrain (B), Burkina Faso (B) (NB), Cape Verde (B) (NB), Chad (B) (NB), Egypt (B) (NB), Greece, Hungary, India (B), Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B) (P), Iraq (B) (NB), Ireland, Israel (B), Jordan (B) (P), Kuwait (B), Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (B) (NB), Mali (B) (NB), Malta (P), Mauritania (B) (NB), Morocco (B) (NB), Niger (B) (NB), Oman (B), Pakistan (B), Qatar (B) (NB), Saudi Arabia (B), Senegal (B) (NB), Spain (B) (NB), Sudan (B) (NB), Syrian Arab Republic (B), Tunisia (B) (NB), Turkey (B) (NB), Turkmenistan (B), United Arab Emirates (B), Uzbekistan, Western Sahara (B) (NB), Yemen (B).

Vagrant to Austria, Belgium, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2011).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (13)...)

Cream-colored Courser (Cursorius) [XC607585]
by Herman van Oosten from polder de Robbenjager, Texel, Noord-Holland, Netherlands (flight call)

Cream-colored Courser (Cursorius cursor) [XC793795]
by id from Al Maha \/ Saih as Siderah road, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (flight call)

Subspecies
Cursorius cursor (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) and Somali Courser (Cursorius somalensis) (including ssp. littoralis) following Pearson and Ash (1996) owing to morphological differences.

Forms superspecies with Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus), Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii) and Indian Courser (Cursorius coromandelicus), although overlap in range of Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii) with present species and Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus) indicates that Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii) and Indian Courser (Cursorius coromandelicus) may represent a separate superspecies. Sometimes considered to include Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus).

Smaller, darker subspecies somalensis and littoralis of eastern Africa are more distinct and may actually belong to Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus). Some intergradation between subspecies exsul, cursor and bogolubovi. Canary Is population sometimes racially distinguished as bannermani, but separation from cursor dependent on size alone and probably not significant.

Proposed subspecies dahlakensis and meruensis nowadays included in subspecies cursor and littoralis respectively.

The following 5 subspecies are recognised:

bogolubovi Zarudny, 1885 - South-eastern Turkey through eastern Iran to south-western Afghanistan, southern Pakistan and north-western India.
cursor (Latham, 1787) - Canary Is, northern Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Socotra. Winters south to Sahel, northern Kenya and Saudi Arabia.
exsul Hartert, 1920 - Cape Verde Is.
somalensis Shelley, 1885 - North-eastern.
littoralis Erlanger, 1905 - Extreme south-eastern Sudan, through northern Kenya to southern Somalia.

References
See References.

The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7

Files:

JPG files for Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) - 10 files

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