From Opus

Photo by AJDH
Riffa, Bahrain

Cursorius cursor

[edit] Identification

23cm

• Sandy body
• White lower belly
• Black primaries on upperwing
• Black underwings
• Grey nape and crown
• Black eyestripe
• White supercilium
• Long legs
• Downcurved bill

Flight: Black outer wing and underwing

[edit] Distribution

Canary and Cape Verde Islands; deserts of northern Africa, Middle East, to India.

Photo by kuwaity

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• C. c. bogolubovi:

• South-eastern Turkey to Iran, Afghanistan, southern Pakistan and north-western India

• C. c. cursor:

• Canary Islands, North Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Socotra Islands

• C. c. exsul:

• Cape Verde Islands

• C. c. somalensis:

• Eritrea to Ethiopia and Somalia

• C. c. littoralis:

• Extreme south-eastern Sudan to northern Kenya and southern Somalia

[edit] Habitat

Dry, semi-desert country, bare and flat.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Movement

Runs on the ground. Feet trail in flight. Skims low over the desert.

[edit] Breeding

They nest in a ground scrape; 2 eggs are laid.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: A quiet quett

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Wikipedia
3. Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
4. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6

• List of references

[edit] External Links