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Indian Courser in Profi Le Live and Breed

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Indian Courser in Profi Le Live and Breed Ca Nest: Key Features: z Rich, rufous crown. Indicator A shallow scrape on bare ground, arid and fallow land. Both parents but are supplemented for a day or species: amidst debris, pebbles, stones, incubate, female more than male. two by parents. Adults supervise z Black & white eye stripe to nape. and cow dung heaps. Nesting Chicks start walking after hatching, their movements by uttering z Bill black, narrow, curved downwards. A representative material not added. In arid, semi- instinctively feed by themselves, specifi c calls. z Iris - hazel. bird of dry open z Sandy brown plumage above, chestnut habitat, one of our below. most threatened Incubation: z Wings narrow, pointed. habitats today. The z Dark primaries seen in fl ight. life of the Courser Fallow land with goat droppings z Legs –bare, long, slender, china-white. indicates that the z Hind toe absent. so called ‘waste z Chick: Patterned with mottled ginger, whitish lands’ are also full of and dark down; whitish below; grey legs. life, where species like Coursers fi nd z Young : Dull buff , barred; pale eyebrow; suffi cient food to lacks black eye stripe. Indian Courser in profi le live and breed. Coursers taking a bath in a puddle Semi-arid habitat of the Indian Courser Approaching the nest with one egg ; fl uffi ng feathers Habitat: Habit: Diurnal. In pairs or Distribution: In our Semi-arid stony country, edges of small parties. Large seasonal Subcontinent, India, West Pakistan, deserts, short sparse grasslands, congregations of 70 birds are Bangla Desh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. fallow land, non-agricultural recorded by us. Stand in the Usually inhabit low and dry country. plains and village grazing shade of short trees on hot noon. grounds or ‘gaay-rans’. Avoid Cautiously approach waterholes Status: Resident. Local thick vegetation, high rainfall and with lapwings, sandgrouses, larks, migration in summer and Pair. The sexes appear alike to us - non-dimorphic Bending to sit on the egg Incubating deserts. babblers, etc. to drink water at noon. monsoon. The unique pattern on head from side, back and front Food: Eggs: Ground dwelling invertebrates like termites (Isoptera), ants ( Hymenoptera) beetles (Coleoptera), bugs (Heteroptera), Homopterans, web-spinners (Embioptera), crickets and grasshoppers (Orthoptera). The dry weight of a single dropping of the Courser ranges 230 to 280 mg. Fecal droppings are loaded with undigested food remains, from which food species may be identifi ed. Picking food by probing the ground Various colour shades of the eggs of the courser. Surprisingly, they match with the colour of the substrate and are diffi cult to detect China-white legs Lacks hind toe-hence cursorial Wing pattern is seen Loving care of the young: Related species: Cream-coloured Courser Wikipedia] Source by J G Keulemans: [Painting (Cursorius cursor): winter visitor to NW India; Stenozygum speciosum Agonoscelis nubilis Plautia crossota Coleopteran beetle Cerambysid beetle Jerdon’s Courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus): Endemic to Eastern Ghats of south Andhra Pradesh (Lankamalai, Velikonda and Palakonda hill-ranges) and south Madhya Pradesh. Sri Lankamaleswara WildLife Cream-coloured Courser and Jerdon’s Courser Sanctuary holds majority of birds. Critically Endangered. Camponotus compressus_ Coreid bug Dung beetle A camoufl aged chick of less than one week age A rare photograph of the courser feeding the chick Juvenile plumage Other avifauna in Courser habitat: Amazing Facts: an epitaph was built in The courser’s feet lack hind toe, hence Bronx Zoo); it was later this ground dwelling (cursorial) bird rediscovered in 1986. A Etymology: Cursorius cannot perch on trees! Live in hot postal stamp is released ( L.), a runner; coromandelicus climatic zones and resort to panting with in its commemoration. (L.), open mouth for thermo-regulation. The epithet after the cryptically coloured eggs and chicks Cultural Coromandel Coast merge with surroundings and are diffi cult aspects: of south west India, to spot in drab brownish habitats - a The Courser prefers from where it was fi rst survival adaption. The related Jerdon’s to walk and run than fl y. Children from described. villages often chase it for fun, hence the (Pande, Satish (2009). Courser, discovered by T. C. Jerdon in Pore chalawani 1848, was thought to be extinct, (and Marathi name – kid teaser. Chestnut-bellied Lark species Sandgrouse Camoufl age: Economic importance Yellow-wattled Lapwing and conservation: The insectivorous coursers play an important role as controllers of insect pest. Protected under Wild Life (Protection) Act. Today, courser habitats are being converted to crop land with negative eff ect on their populations. Identifying occupied habitats and protecting them by Cryptic colouration of eggs The courser hidden amidst cow-dung droppings Plumage matches the habitat colour peoples’ participation is the only hope for this beautiful species. ‘Rural Outreach Programs’, such as those undertaken by Ela Foundation Behaviour: Threats: for public education stressing conservation of so called ‘wastelands’ is the key to their survival. Indian Courser Cursorius coromandelicus (Gmelin, 1789). Type locality: Coromandel Coast (India). Yerra chitawa (Telugu); Al katti (Tamil); Veli alappan (Malayalam); Weli kirala (Sinhala); Dhawik; Pore-chalawani (Marathi); Nukri (Hindi); Thonth (Bihar - Mirshakars); Shwetcharan (white legged); Kshiprachal (swift Running footed)(Sanskrit) – aptly descriptive. z Chief Editor: Dr. Satish Pande. z Size: 260 mm. z Incubation: z Photographs: Kiran Ghadge, Dr. Satish z Weight: 130 to 158 g. 15 - 16 d. Karmalkar, Fayaz Shaikh, Rajkumar z Wing: Male 143 – 163 mm. z Nuptial displays: Pawar, Ashish Joshi, Mandar Kulkarni, Road widening can destroy the already shrinking habitat of coursers Tail 45 – 64 mm. Running, mutual Sandeep Bhavsar and Dr. Satish Pande. z Tarsus: 49 – 57 mm. feeding and calls. z Design: Kiran Velhankar, Media Next z Call: Piping, shrill Infoprocessors Pvt. Ltd. z Breeding season: March – Broken-wing display August. calls, usually uttered z Copyright and Published by: Ela Foundation, C-9, Bhosale Park, z Clutch: 1 – 3 eggs. when disturbed. One clutch per year. Sahakarnagar-2, Pune 411009. July, 2014. An OENSL initiative. z Eggs: Oval; black spotted, www.elafoundation.org. blotched; smooth to Indian Fox, a potential threat to A herd of goats can trample the Ploughing in courser habitat z References: *Ali & Ripley (1969). Indian Courser Forest Department eggs and chicks of grassland birds eggs of the courser coarse; cryptic. *Satish Pande. (2009) Latin Names of Maharashtra z Egg Size: 30.6 x 23.4 mm Indian Birds Explained. Book made z Order: Charadriiformes z Family: Glareolidae Chief Conservator of Forests Habitat loss, collection of fi rewood, road development and converting semi-arid (Munjpara-PhD Thesis). and Funded by Ela Foundation.; Satish www.elafoundation.org Pande et al (2003). Birds of Western z Status: Resident. (Wild Life), Pune habitats to cropland by providing irrigation are major threats. Natural causes are Ghats, Kokan and Malabar. Last two Panting during hot noon predation by fox, mongoose, wolf and rarely, loss of nests due to hail storms. SUPPORTED BY: published by Oxford University Press Conservation Forest Department and Bombay Natural History Society. Through z Recommended citation: Pande, Satish Education & Satish Pande, Rahul Lonkar, Dr. M.N.Mahajan, Rajkumar Pawar, Prashant Deshpande , Arjun Jadhav, Kiran Ghadge and Dr. Satish Karmalkar did Maharashtra (2015) Indian Courser. Ela File 16: 1-6. Research Chief Conservator of Forests ELA FOUNDATION fi eld research. Special thanks to Shri. Sunil Limaye, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Pune. (Wild Life), Pune Ela Foundation, Pune..
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