Cursoriinae
Sign in to saveThe coursers are a subfamily Cursoriinae of birds which, together with the pratincoles, make up the family Glareolidae in the order Charadriiformes. They have, compared to pratincoles, longer legs, shorter wings and longer pointed bills which curve downwards. They inhabit deserts and similar arid regions, and have cryptic plumage and crouch down when alarmed to avoid detection by predators.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Glareolidae
- Image
- Cursorius temmincki with juveniles.JPG
Show 2 more facts
- taxon name
- Cursoriinae
- taxon rank
- subfamily
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Encyclopedic overview
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- Taxonomy
- Species
- References
The coursers are a subfamily Cursoriinae of birds which, together with the pratincoles, make up the family Glareolidae in the order Charadriiformes. They have, compared to pratincoles, longer legs, shorter wings and longer pointed bills which curve downwards. They inhabit deserts and similar arid regions, and have cryptic plumage and crouch down when alarmed to avoid detection by predators.
Like the pratincoles, the coursers are found in warmer parts of the Old World. They hunt insects by running.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Cursoriinae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.