Demography and Populations

Age at First Breeding

Information needed.

Intervals Between Breeding

Information needed.

Clutch Size and Number of Clutches per Season

Replacement broods are common, but it is unknown if Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii) is double- or multi-brooded within a season. Given the length of a nesting cycle from laying to fledging, i.e., ~55 days, double-brooding may be possible, but multi-brooding appears unlikely. Study needed.

Annual and Lifetime Reproductive Success

Of 23 eggs laid in 12 breeding attempts, 18 hatched, giving a hatching rate of 78.3% (2 Engelbrecht, D. (2025). Notes on the behaviour and breeding biology of Temminck’s Courser Cursorius temminckii. The Lark 58:79–86. Close ). During the same study, the breeding success, i.e., the number of young fledged expressed as a percentage of the number of eggs laid, was 43.5%.

Number of Broods Normally Reared per Season

Study needed.

Proportion of Total Females that Rear ≥ One Brood to Nest-Leaving

Study needed.

Information needed.

Body Parasites

A visual examination of 12 Temminck's Coursers for the presence of ectoparasites such as ticks (order Ixodida), feather mites (order Sarcoptiformes), and feather lice (order Phthiraptera) failed to find any (6 Bryson, U., and D. M. Paijmans (2024). Temminck´s Courser Cursorius temminckii, Swainson 1822: plumage, moult, biometrics, and determination of age. Afrotropical Bird Biology 4:1–20. Close ). Study needed.

Disease

Study needed.

Exposure

Young chicks, crouching motionless in response to a potential threat, such as a predator, begin to show signs of heat stress within minutes. However, no mortalities due to heat stress were noted by Engelbrecht (2 Engelbrecht, D. (2025). Notes on the behaviour and breeding biology of Temminck’s Courser Cursorius temminckii. The Lark 58:79–86. Close ).

Predation

Few predation events have been recorded; however, predatory reptiles, birds, and small mammals are likely predators, especially of eggs and chicks. See Behavior: Predation.

Disease

Study needed.

Direct Human Impacts

Given the species' typical flight height, there is the potential for collisions with energy infrastructure such as overhead electricity transmission lines and wind turbines. However, several studies at wind energy farms have failed to record any coursers in the lists of birds impacted by these facilities (150 Ralston-Paton, S., J. Smallie, A. Pearson, and R. Ramalho (2017). Wind energy’s impacts on birds in South Africa: A preliminary review of the results of operational monitoring at the first wind farms of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme in South Africa. BirdLife South Africa Occasional Report Series No. 2. BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. Close , 151 Perold, V., S. Ralston-Paton, and P. Ryan (2020). On a collision course? The large diversity of birds killed by wind turbines in South Africa. Ostrich 91(3):228–239. Close ). Temminck's Courser is often attracted to airports, especially to open areas with short grass or where grass has been burned to improve visibility. To mitigate the risk of aircraft strikes, airport personnel occasionally shoot Temminck's Coursers found on airport grounds (117 Kok, O. B., and A. C. Kok (2002). Diet of three courser species in an open grassland habitat, central South Africa. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 32(1):39–42. Close ).

Individual Distance

When breeding, nests are usually well-spaced (>100 m apart). Individuals forage in loose groups, usually several meters apart.

Territory Size

Although nests are typically >100 m apart, breeding pairs tolerate foraging conspecifics up to ~10 m from the nest before agonistic behavior is displayed.

Home Range Size

Information needed.

Density

Measures of density vary greatly, and birds may be absent in an area in some years, followed by relatively large numbers in certain seasons or years. In Senegal and Niger, mean densities of 1.3 birds/km² and 0.2 birds/km² were recorded, respectively, with higher densities in lower rainfall regions (152 Petersen, B. S., K. D. Christensen, and F. P. Jensen (2007). Bird population densities along two precipitation gradients in Senegal and Niger. Malimbus 29(2):101–121. Close ). In the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana, Taylor (153 Taylor, N. (2008). What at the very least is living here? Establishing the minimum numbers of birds present during 48-hour periods in the Central Kalahari during the Cold-Dry Season of May-June. Babbler (Botswana) 51:13–33. Close ) recorded the species at frequencies ranging from 3.0–7.5 individuals/100 km during the dry season.

Numbers

Temminck's Courser is one of the most common coursers within its distribution (5 Hockey, P. A. R. (2005). Temminck’s Courser Cursorius temminckii. In Roberts Birds of Southern Africa (P. A. R. Hockey, W. R. J. Dean, and P. G. Ryan, Editors), Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, South Africa. pp. 426–427. Close ). The global population is estimated at 60,001–285,000 individuals (154 Delany S., D. A. Scott, T. Dodman, and D. Stroud (2009). An Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. Wetlands International, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Close , 155 Wetlands International (2025). Waterbird Populations Portal. Retrieved from wpp.wetlands.org on 11 February 2025. Close ) or 40,000–190,000 mature individuals (156 BirdLife International (2024). Species factsheet: Temminck's Courser Cursorius temminckii. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/temmincks-courser-cursorius-temminckii on 11/02/2025 Close ).

Trends

The current population trend is unknown (156 BirdLife International (2024). Species factsheet: Temminck's Courser Cursorius temminckii. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/temmincks-courser-cursorius-temminckii on 11/02/2025 Close , 155 Wetlands International (2025). Waterbird Populations Portal. Retrieved from wpp.wetlands.org on 11 February 2025. Close ), but in the absence of any data suggesting a significant decline in numbers anywhere within its range, the population trend appears stable.

Information needed.