Habitat

The Temminck's Courser can be found in a variety of habitats ranging from desert scrub to arid, semi-arid, and mesic savannas, grasslands, the edges of salt pans and estuaries, as well as anthropogenic habitats such as pastures, fallow fields and air fields, among others.

Habitat Keywords

• Deserts and arid scrubs: desert and semidesert shrubland, desert and semidesert thornscrub.
• Savannas and seasonally moist shrublands: open broadleaf woodland, thorn savanna.
• Grasslands and steppes: tropical grassland, montane grassland.
• Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrublands: mediterranean heathland.
• Salt-dominated habitats: salt pan
• Anthropogenic habitats: grazing lands, cultivated lands.

The Temminck's Courser favors desert margins, grasslands, or savanna woodlands with large, open, short-grassed clearings within these two broad habitat types. Grassland habitats include tropical and upland grasslands (98 Campbell, I., K. Behrens, C. Hesse, and P. Chaon (2021). Habitats of the World. A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists and Ecologists. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), especially those where seasonal fires, whether deliberate or accidental, create the open structure that the species prefers for breeding. It can be found in a variety of savannas, including Guinea savanna, miombo woodland, gusu woodland, mopane savanna, Afrotropical dry thorn savanna and thornscrub, as well as Afrotropical moist mixed savanna (98 Campbell, I., K. Behrens, C. Hesse, and P. Chaon (2021). Habitats of the World. A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists and Ecologists. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ). Temminck's Courser can also be found on the sparsely vegetated margins of Afrotropical salt pans, e.g., Etosha Pan in Namibia. The species has also benefited from anthropogenic habitats such as croplands, heavily grazed pastures, sports fields, and airstrips. Beyond these habitat types, it is also occasionally found in the Nama and Succulent Karoo, as well as the Fynbos biomes; however, it is usually associated with anthropogenic habitats, such as croplands and heavily grazed pastures. Dispersing individuals may be found in atypical habitats, such as an immature bird recorded along a track in Moist Montane Forest along the escarpment in the Limpopo Province, South Africa (G. D. Engelbrecht, unpublished observation).

This is a species of semi-arid, open grassland, and savanna woodlands, e.g., mopane (Colophospermum mopane) and miombo (Brachystegia, Julbernardia, and Isoberlinia spp.), with large, open clearings. Within these broad habitat types, it favors areas with short grass and lots of bare ground, including recently burnt areas, firebreaks, lightly grassed pans or the edges of dambos, dry floodplains, airfields, sports fields, road verges, and habitats created by agricultural activities such as recently plowed lands, fallow fields, and overgrazed areas (99 Brewster, C. A. (1991). Birds of the Gumare area, northwest Botswana. Babbler 21/22:12–61. Close , 85 Maclean, G. L., and M. Herremans (1997). Temminck's Courser Cursorius temminckii. In The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Volume 1: Non-passerines (J. A. Harrison, D. G. Allan, L. G. Underhill, M. Herremans, A. J. Tree, V. Parker, and C. J. Brown, Editors), BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. pp. 446–448. Close , 100 Oake, K., and S. J. Tyler (1997). Some further observations of birds at Lake Ngami. Babbler (Botswana) 32:29–31. Close , 101 Pausch, E. (1998). Birds of Kutse Game Reserve, Botswana. Babbler (Botswana) 33:5–16. Close , 102 Tyler, S. J., and C. A. Brewster (2002). Interesting and unusual sightings. Babbler (Botswana) 40:71–80. Close , 103 Skinner, C., and J. Glover (2005). Transect counts in and around the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, in Nxai Pans National Park and in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Babbler (Botswana) 45:37–40. Close ). Temminck's Courser is particularly fond of recently burnt areas, especially for breeding, and may appear within hours after a fire (104 Dean, W. R. J. (1987). Birds associating with fire at Nylsvley Nature Reserve, Transvaal. Ostrich 58(3):103–106. Close ). The southwestern subspecies C. t. aridus favors the edges of saline pans in Namibia (13 Clancey, P. A. (1984). Geographical variation and post-breeding dispersal in Temminck’s Courser of the Afrotropics. Gerfaut 74(4):361–374. Close ), and in West Africa, it is regularly recorded on estuarine mudflats (105 Bannerman, D. A. (1931). The Birds of Tropical West Africa. Volume 2. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, UK. Close ). It is also found in short coastal grasslands on the northern KwaZulu-Natal coastal plain. In the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, it was previously associated with open areas in the semi-desert Karoo, thorn bushveld, and short, subcoastal grasslands (91 Skead, C. J. (1967). Ecology of birds in the eastern Cape Province. Ostrich Supplement 7:1–103. Close ), but is now mainly associated with anthropogenic habitats such as airstrips, crop fields, and pastures.