This proposal references several times “unpubl. data; compiled by Praveen J in litt. 2025″. The figure this refers to is posted below, showing maximum counts of Indian Courser 2014-2024 at 22 sites, as provided and reviewed by numerous experts across India.
The Indian Courser in our region primarily prefers substantially degraded, dry land with sparse, short vegetation—areas that are typically uncultivable and thus remained unused, providing ideal habitat conditions for the species.
However, recent infrastructural developments, such as the expansion of the state highway and the construction of the Gurgaon-Jhajjar highway, have significantly increased human population pressure in the area. This has led to a rapid shift of warehouses and industries into these regions, subsequently triggering a growing demand for residential developments.
As a result, the prime habitat of the Indian Courser is being increasingly encroached upon and converted for urban and industrial use, posing a serious threat to the survival of this species.
Pankaj Gupta
Member Delhi Bird Foundation
I am trying to locate Indian Coursers species as I keep visiting grasslands. I am sure it is becoming more and more difficult to locate even a single bird. In Yavatmal district in last few years, I could locate the species only on two-three occasions, in suitable habitats.
I my opinion the reasons are: (These are from Maharashtra state):
1. All the Industrial Development Corporations are given huge swathes of lands which were grasslands (so called wastelands). The biggest grassland in Amravati district is now almost gone, with all it coursers, larks, pipits. The large Industrial area set up in Nagpur district is at the cost of grasslands.
2. All the smaller mines are for stones and “murrum” are located in grasslands and in degraded hilly areas/ scrublands. These smaller mines when though cumulatively, has taken aways huge swathes of grasslands in Maharashtra.
3. New emerging threat is renewable energy. Every company will look for areas where Google map shows least “greenery” to get environmental clearances, besides agriculture plots where farmers are looking for some assured incomes.
4. Conversion of grasslands to agriculture is another big threat. The latest example is Bustard Sanctuary in Solapur and Ahilyanagar districts in Maharashtra. The Sanctuary has almost disappeared along with its bustards.
I am sure the species is declining at a great pace due to loss of its habitat in Maharashtra.
In places like Rollapadu Bird Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh, excessive grazing pressure from blackbucks and domestic cattle severely disturbs the Indian Courser’s ground-nesting behavior and reduces breeding success.
In Telangana, natural grasslands are rapidly being lost to urbanization, industrial expansion, and infrastructure projects, leading to fragmentation and disappearance of suitable courser habitat. Grasslands in India are often misclassified as wastelands, leading to their conversion without ecological consideration or protective status.
In the past, we used to notice a healthy population of Indian Coursers in several grasslands around Telangana in Yenakathala, Zaheerabad and Bidar. Almost all these places are now lost due to real estate development and disturbance due to human activity and bulldozers that clear the land. Suspect these have resulted in loss of habitat which impacted Indian Coursers – these are not sighted that much anymore.
I concur with the new status as Near Threatened. The Indian courser is losing its habitat rapidly and it needs to be monitoried vigilantly.
For Gujarat, after the initial assessment provided by Munjpara & Gadhvi (2009) for Naliya in Kachchh, more areas in Kachchh district have been converted for agricultural or industrial use. This has affected the habitat of the Indian Courser (IC) and this species is now no longer seen commonly in Kachchh. But, it should be stated that since Kachchh district is very large, there remain some habitats where the IC is still seen. For example, flocks are sometimes seen post monsoon, like here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkdLcN_gnNo
and there are sporadic sightings from LRK and GRK. Hence, it is likely that there are some undisturbed habitats where it still breeds successfully in Kachchh. But overall, due to rapid industrial growth and conversion of fallow land / grasslands into agriculture, the habitats are getting smaller and could adversely affect its population.
For Saurashtra, it is not very common anywhere but widely scattered, with sightings from many areas. It is absent in the forest belt of Gir / Girnar in Saurashtra as well as in the forest belt from N to S Gujarat. In central Gujarat, it is seen in Dahod and Bharuch districts, with scattered records elsewhere. Large counts have been reported earlier near Jamnagar (in 2008) in Saurashtra – see comments here https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/724722
A few breeding studies have been done in Gujarat (In Kachchh and Saurashtra) (Munjpara 2007,Sureja et al. 2021) which reported hatching success of 80% and 50% respectively though more studies are needed.
Though a population assessment for Gujarat has not been done, anecdotal evidence suggests that the IC is now rarely seen in areas where it was regular or seen in good numbers a few years ago. There is no doubt that its habitat is under pressure in the state. Overall, due to habitat loss in Gujarat, threats to this species have increased and its status as Near Threatened seems to be justified.
References:
Munjpara, S.B. (2007): Ecology of the Indian Courser Cursorius coromandelicus in Abdasa, Kutch, India. Bhavnagar University. Accessed from http://hdl.handle.net/10603/9171
Sureja, Neel J., Hemanya R. Radadia, Jayesh B. Patel, and Suresh K. Chovatiya. Notes on the Breeding Behaviour of Indian Courser Cursorius Coromandelicus from Khijadiya, Jamnagar District, Gujarat, India. Buceros 26, no. 1 (2021): 15–22.
The Indian Courser population has drastically reduced in places like Koonthankulam (Tirunelveli) & the grasslands of Tuticorin.
1) Even though quite a lot of their habitats are still intact here , the population has reduced in these suitable habitats.
2) With the increase in the feral dogs / crows numbers – I feel their breeding is what is impacted the most . Since they prefer very open , bare stony patches with less vegetation for their nesting , the eggs / Juvenile are very easily prone to be predated by them with ease.
3) The other reason i feel is the over grazing of cattle in these habitats , which destroys the eggs occasionally (or) exposes the chicks to other predators more often.
In my book Waders of the Indian Subcontinent I have mentioned that the Indian Courser is a bird to watch.The species is threatened by loss of habitat in most parts of its range. Expanding agriculture and encroachment on open areas/ grasslands has led to decline in some parts of its range . No longer reported in state of Punjab and most parts of Haryana.
Geographic Range: It is regular winter visitor to dry western part of West Bengal since 2014, maximum three birds were seen. We have very old record from Durgapur area by F. M. Gauntlett.
Link: https://ebird.org/species/indcou1
Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50395214
In very few locations near Mysuru, Karnataka. Indian coursers are sighted, where we also see good number of blackbucks. Atleast two of such locations are converted to industrial areas. These areas are also extensively used by nearby villagers for grazing of cattle and Sheep. We are not seeing any Indian Coursers at industrial areas which earlier used to be good habitat for them.
Status in Pakistan:
Localised Resident undertaking seasonal migrations.
Distribution:
The original distribution of the species covered much of the Indus Plains from Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to upper Punjab Plains and in the South all across Sindh province (Roberts 1992 and Grimmet 2008). Currently, the species has mainly been noted in select regions such as the Jhimpir plains, Cholistan desert and Achhro Thar area of Thar desert (Birds of Pakistan, Wildlife of Pakistan, Birds of Sindh Facebook groups).
Counts and Population:
Flocks of 5-8 individuals are the average count in Jhimpir grasslands (Palari pers. comm) during Summer months. The highest count in peak summer has been up to 24 adults from a single observation point. In the winter, the species is mainly absent from Jhimpir with highest known count yet recorded being of 3 individuals from a single observation point at Jhimpir grasslands. Additionally, species has also been noted recently (c. last 5 years) in few observations from:
1) Jungshahi, Thatta district, Sindh Province
1) Kot diji, Khairpur district, Sindh Province
1) Cholistan, Rahim Yar Khan district, Punjab Province
Breeding:
In recent times, breeding has only been reported from Jhimpir grasslands with most chicks being noted just with the onset of Monsoons in the area (End of July-September).
Threats:
1) Land reclamation leading to habitat loss.
2) Hunting.
Remarks:
Due to lack of observers, the species is largely under-observed in Pakistan based on my personnel understanding.
References:
Birds of Pakistan field guide (Grimmet et al 2008)
Birds of Pakistan Volume 1 (Roberst 1992)
Birds of Pakistan (https://www.facebook.com/groups/672890519498797)
Birds of Sindh (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1597462787219757)
Wildlife of Pakistan (https://www.facebook.com/groups/183652278426420)
Birds of Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KYLÄNPÄÄ 2008)
Ebird (https://ebird.org/species/indcou1)