Cream-colored Courser

The cream-coloured courser is a wader of the pratincole and courser family, cited as 19–27 cm long with a wingspan of 51–57 cm, with long legs of 7–8 cm, long wings and a slightly downcurved bill. The body plumage is sandy, fading to whitish on the lower belly, the outer upperwing and underwing are black, and the crown is grey, grading to blue-grey on the nape, with a black eyestripe and a conspicuous white eyebrow. Its name derives from Latin cursor, runner, describing how it hunts insect prey on the ground (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is partially migratory, with northern and north-western birds wintering across the southern edge of the Sahara, in Arabia and in north-western India. It also breeds in the southern desert regions of north-western India and Pakistan. The breeding season extends from February to September, and may include autumn and winter when rainfall is favourable. Two eggs are laid in a ground scrape. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident and winter migrant of grassland that eats invertebrates, and does not assign a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).