Field Identification

Length 19–21 cm; mass ~70 g, sexes alike. Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii) is a small courser with pale sandy- or grayish-brown upperparts, a bright chestnut crown, a broad white supercilium, and a black eyeline running from behind the eye to meet on the nape. The breast and upper belly are dull rufous-brown, grading to chestnut on the lower breast and belly; there is a central black patch on the belly that extends through the legs; the lower belly is white. The black remiges contrast with the brown upperwing coverts. The legs and feet are grayish white. The bill is black but paler at its base, long, and slightly decurved. The immature bird has a buff crown; the dorsal feathers are edged black, creating a mottled effect; the breast is pale rufous, and the belly is blackish.

Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii) is one of a tetrad of similar-looking coursers in Africa, the other three being Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus), Somali Courser (Cursorius somalensis) and Cream-colored Courser (Cursorius cursor). Of these four species, Temminck's Courser is the smallest, the only species with a black belly patch and the only one that lacks a blue-gray hind crown and nape.

On a coarse scale, the distribution of the Temminck's Courser overlaps with three other Cursorius coursers, theCream-colored Courser (Cursorius cursor), Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus), and Somali Courser (Cursorius somalensis), but Temminck's Courser generally occupies more mesic regions than the former species.

Although the ranges of Temminck's Courser and Cream-colored Courser are largely allopatric, there is a narrow potential contact zone in the northern Sahelian region, most notably in Senegal. The Cream-colored Courser is significantly larger than Temminck's Courser and has a plain, pale belly that contrasts minimally with the rest of the underparts.

The Temminck's Courser is slightly smaller than the Burchell's Courser of southwestern Africa, has a shorter bill, a black belly patch rather than a narrow black horizontal bar on the belly like Burchell's Courser, and a broad black eyeline versus a narrow black eyeline in Burchell's Courser. In flight, Temminck's Courser has a narrow line of white-tipped secondaries, which differs from the diagnostic broad strip of white-tipped secondaries of Burchell's Courser.

In northeastern Africa, Temminck's Courser and Somali Courser (Cursorius somalensis) are sympatric, but the latter is larger, longer-legged, slightly paler, and has a plain white belly (no black belly patch like Temminck's Courser).