Parental care of the Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) in the harsh environment of northern Saudi Arabia

The Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) is a ground-nesting bird found in desert and semi-desert regions across Asia, Africa and south-eastern Europe. Despite having a wide distribution, little information is available on its breeding biology and parental care. This study was conducted at King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Natural Reserve, where ground temperatures experience extreme fluctuations between day and night. During the hottest parts of the day, temperatures can exceed 60°C, while at night they can drop below 15°C in late spring and early summer. The study found that biparental care is the preferred parental care strategy for this species, though a single parent can compensate for the absence of its mate. Moreover, incubating parents avoided facing the sun which may play an important role to maximize the shade to protect the eggs from the direct sunlight. In addition, incubating parents sat tightly on the eggs at night to keep them warm and shaded them during the day to prevent overheating. Biparental care was the predominant form of brood care for chicks younger than 45 days, with both parents present in 28 out of 30 repeatedly observed ringed families (93%). In contrast, for young older than 45 days, both parents were present in only 3 out of 9 families (33%).