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Jerdon's Courser

A species of Short-billed Coursers
Scientific name : Rhinoptilus bitorquatus Genus : Short-billed Coursers

Jerdon's Courser, A species of Short-billed Coursers
Botanical name: Rhinoptilus bitorquatus
Genus: Short-billed Coursers

Description

It is an unmistakable compact courser, with two brown breast-bands. It has a yellow base to the black bill, a blackish crown, broad buff supercilium, and an orange-chestnut throat patch. A narrow white crown stripe runs on top of the head. In-flight it shows a mostly black tail and a prominent white wing bar. It is crepuscular and vocal at dawn and dusk with a series of staccato Twick-too...Twick-too... Twick-too or yak-wak.. yak-wak calls. The notes are repeated at the rate of about 1 per second and uttered 2 to 16 times and several birds in the vicinity may join in the calling. Jerdon described the Telugu name of the species as Adavi wuta-titti meaning "Jungle empty-purse". This name may however have been in error since Salim Ali and Hugh Whistler found villagers mystified by the name when they searched for the species near Borgampad and Nelipaka during the Hyderabad state survey of 1931. Recent researchers have noted the local name as Kalivi kodi.
Size
27 cm
Nest Placement
Ground
Feeding Habits
Jerdon's Courser is nocturnal, feeding primarily on insects like termites. Specific dietary habits are largely unknown, but jerdon's Courser is presumed to have unique nocturnal foraging behaviors.
Habitat
The habitat of jerdon's Courser typically includes rocky, undulating scrublands with a mix of sparse, thorny vegetation such as Acacia and non-thorny plants like Cassia. These scrub-jungles are marked by a preference for open ground patches devoid of grass, nestled between denser woodlands and human-altered areas. The species favors a specific density of large and small bushes and is found away from cultivated lands or artesian wells, often hiding within thorny bushes of around 50 cm in height.
Dite type
Omnivorous

General Info

Feeding Habits

Bird food type

Distribution Area

It is endemic to southern India, where it is principally known from southern Andhra Pradesh. It has an extremely limited geographical range being known from the Godaveri river valley near Sironcha and Bhadrachalam, and from the Cuddapah and Anantpur areas in the valley of the Pennar River. An egg, probably collected within 100 km of Kolar in 1917, was positively identified as belonging to this species using DNA sequence comparison. It is mostly active at dusk and during the night. It was first recorded in the mid 19th century; it was then considered to be extinct for more than 80 years, until it was rediscovered in 1986 at Cuddapah District, Andhra Pradesh. In Maharashtra it was reported at “24 km east of Sironcha, near the Godavari river, three birds, undated (Blanford 1867, 1869), and sometime in the 20-year period before 1935 (D’Abreu, 1935)”. The species was known from specimens collected at a few locations in eastern peninsular India and the currently known population is extremely restricted in range. Studies in this region using sand strips to detect footprints suggest that their preferred habitat has tall bushes at a density of 300 to 700 per hectare.

Species Status

This bird was known only from a few historical records and was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in 1986. It was rediscovered by Bharat Bhushan, an ornithologist at the Bombay Natural History Society who made use of local trappers to capture a specimen. Prior to its rediscovery it was thought to be a diurnal bird. It remains critically endangered due to loss of habitat. It is nocturnal in habit and presumed to be insectivorous. Being a rare bird, nothing is known yet about its behaviour and nesting habits. Population estimates for the bird range from between 50 and 249. Recent studies have made use of techniques such as camera trapping and carefully placed strips of fine sand to record footprints from which estimates of population density are made. The known world population of the species is restricted to a very small region and attempts have been made to find new areas by distributing pictures and small electronic call players to people in neighbouring regions that share similar habitats. Searches during 2008 in its former habitat near Sironcha in Gadchiroli district in eastern Maharashtra failed to find the birds. In 1988 the Indian Postal Service released a stamp to commemorate the rediscovery.
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