The Somali courser (''Cursorius somalensis'') is a
wader in the
pratincole and
courser family, Glareolidae.
Although classed as
waders, these are
birds of dry open country, preferably semi-desert, where they typically hunt their
insect prey by running on the ground.
This is a small bird that lives in the eastern
Africa:
''C. s. somaliensis''
( Shelley, 1885) in
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
, eastern
Ethiopia and
Somaliland
Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...
and ''C. s. littoralis''
( Erlanger, 1905) in extreme southeast
South Sudan, northern and eastern
Kenya, and southern
Somalia. It feeds on
insects and
seeds and lives in open, short
grasslands
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natural ...
and burnt
veld. It grows to eight or nine inches in height.
References
Somali courser
Birds of the Horn of Africa
Somali courser
Taxa named by George Ernest Shelley
{{Charadriiformes-stub