Cream-coloured courser

Cursorius cursor

Photo by Christodoulos Makris (Trek Nature)

Common name:
cream-coloured courser (en); corredor (pt); courvite isabelle (fr); corredor (es); rennvogel (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Charadriiformes
Family Glareolidae

Range:
This species is found around the Sahara desert, along the Mediterranean coast Africa, in Morocco and Mauritania and in some areas of the Sahel such as Mali and Sudan. Also in parts of the Canary islands and Cape Verde, and, through the Middle East, into Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and marginally into north-western India.

Size:
These birds are 19-24 cm long and have a wingspan of 51-57 cm. They weigh 93-156 g.

Habitat:The cream-coloured courser is found in arid, open, stony or sandy desert and semi-desert, including dry grassland and scrubland, gravel plains, gravel roads, salt flats and dune troughs. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 800 m.

Diet:They feed mainly on adult and larval insects, including beetles, grasshopper, ants and flies, but also other invertebrates such as molluscs, spiders and isopods, and seeds.

Breeding:
Cream-coloured coursers breed in February-July. The nest is a shallow, unlined scrape on bare ground, where the female lays 2 whitish eggs with dark brown spots and mottles. The eggs are incubated by both parents for 18-19 days. The chicks leave the nest soon after hatching, but remain with their parents until fledging, about 30 days after hatching. They reach sexual maturity at 1 year of age.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range. The global population size is unknown due to recent taxonomic splits, but the overall population trend is stable, despite some populations having unknown trends.

Collared pratincole

Glareola pratincola

Photo by Christodoulos Makris (Trek Nature)

Common name:
collared pratincole (en); perdiz-do-mar-comum (pt); glaréole à collier (fr); canastera común (es); rotflügel-brachschwalbe (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Charadriiformes
Family Glareolidae

Range:
This species is found breeding around the Mediterranean, through the Middle East into central Asia as far east as Kazakhstan, western China and north-western India, and also in scattered areas in Africa, including various wetlands within the Sahel belt, along the Congo river basin, along the Okawango river and on the north-eastern coast of South Africa. Most populations in sub-Saharan Africa are resident, while the population in northern Africa, southern Europe and Asia migrate to winter in the Sahel and along East Africa down to eastern South Africa.

Size:
These birds are 22-28 cm long and have a wingspan of 60-70 cm. They weigh 70-95 g.

Habitat:
The collared pratincole is mostly found in grasslands and steppes, favouring areas near water, especially the margins of alkaline lakes, saltpans and dried mudflats, but also in recently burnt open ground, overgrazed grassland, alkaline flats and sandflats usually along the edges of larger rivers and estuaries. They can also be found foraging on rice fields, coastal scrublands and even on oasis in deserts during migration. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 2.200m.

Diet:
Collared pratincoles junt at dawn and dusk  or on moonlight nights, catching prey aerially, or pouncing on small invertebrates on the ground. They prey includes insects such as beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, termites, dragonflies, moths and butterflies, ant-lions and flies, as well as spiders and molluscs.

Breeding:
The breeding season varies greatly between different parts of their range. They are monogamous and usually loosely colonial. The nest is a shallow depression or hoofprint in the ground, either in soil, gravel or dead vegetation, typically near water on open and flat expanses of mud. There the female lays 1-3 white or yellowish eggs with brown and grey blotches. The eggs are incubated by both sexes for 17-19 days and the chicks leave the nest within 2-3 days of hatching. They are cared for by both parents, fledging at about 25-30 days of age.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
The collared pratincole has a very large breeding range. There is no reliable information regarding its global population size and the overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations may be stable and others have unknown trends. Although not threatened at present, this species is negatively influenced by the use of herbicides and insecticides, and by changes to its preferred habitats, namely changes in water levels, ploughing of grasslands, artificial irrigation and fertilisation, changes in traditional grazing regimes, increasing urban encroachment and human disturbance.

Egyptian plover

Pluvianus aegyptius

Photo by Terje Kolaas (Naturspesialisten)

Common name:

Egyptian plover (en); ave-do-crocodilo (pt); pluvian fluviatile (fr); pluvial (es); krokodilwächter (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Charadriiformes

Family Glareolidae

Range:

This African species is found from Mauritania and southern Sudan, down to Uganda and Angola. The Egyptian plover also occurred in Egypt in the past, but became extinct there during the 20th century.

Size:

These birds are 19-21 cm long and have a wingspan of 23-25 cm. They weigh 80-90 g.

Habitat:

These birds are found in large lowland tropical rivers with sandbars and gravel, but also occur around human settlements near rivers and may occasionally use other wetland habitats like lakes or ponds.

Diet:

Egyptian plovers eat aquatic and terrestrial insects, worms, molluscs and sometimes seeds.

Breeding:

These birds breed in January-May. They breed in solitary pairs, nesting in a deep scrape on sand or gravel, where the female lays 2-3 eggs which are not incubated in the normal sense, but rather kept buried in the warm sand, and cooled by the adults sitting above them and periodically wetting the sand. The eggs hatch after 28-31 days and the chicks leave the nest soon after hatching, remaining with their parents until fledging, 4-5 weeks later.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

The Egyptian plover has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 22.000-85.000 individuals. The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations may be stable and others have unknown trends, and the may threat affecting the species are habitat changes resulting from the damming of rivers.