203. Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor)

Cream-coloured Coursers are small, plover-like waders, but with a curved bill and longer legs. Males and females have similar, plain buff plumage with a strongly marked head; juveniles are browner and more speckled. They all have very distinctive black outer wings and all-black underwing, visible usually only in flight. Their preferred habitat is open, dry, bare flat terrain such as semi-desert and savannah. Their distribution is patchy around north Africa, generally avoiding the central Saharan region; they are also found in parts of the Middle East and India. Occasionally they turn up as vagrants in Europe.

Cream-coloured Courser, ©Tarique Sani, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Cream-coloured Courser painting.

Hmmm, not too bad but I seriously bodged the feather detail on the neck - doh!