Burchell's courser

Burchell's courser
From Etosha National Park, Namibia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Glareolidae
Genus: Cursorius
Species: C. rufus
Binomial name
Cursorius rufus
Gould, 1837

The Burchell's courser (Cursorius rufus) is a wader in the pratincole and courser family, Glareolidae.[2] The name of this bird commemorates the English naturalist William John Burchell.[3]

Burchell's courser small bird that lives in the western parts of southern Africa (Southwest Angola, Namibia, Botswana (Kalahari Basin), and western South Africa).[4] Although classed as waders, these are birds of dry open country, preferably semi-desert, where they typically hunt their insect prey[5] (usually Harvester Termites)[4] by running on the ground. It feeds off of insects and seeds and lives in open, short grasslands and burnt veld.[5] It grows to 20 to 22 centimeters in height and about 75 grams in weight.[4]

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Cursorius rufus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Hancock, Peter; Weiersbye, Ingrid (24 November 2015). "Birds of Botswana". Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 158. ISBN 9781400874170. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 72. ISBN 9780713666472.
  4. 1 2 3 Maclean, G.L.; Kirwan, G.M. (2016). "Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive: Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus)". Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 Ekstrom, J.; Butchart, S.; Malpas, L. (2016). "Species factsheet: Cursorius rufus". BirdLife International. Retrieved 11 May 2016.

External links


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