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Oriental Pratincole
Glareola maldivarum
Identify the Oriental Pratincole by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Oriental Pratincole is a slim, long-winged wader that often behaves like a swallow, chasing insects in the air. It has brown upperparts, a white belly, chestnut underwings, a short bill and a shallowly forked tail. It breeds widely across eastern and southern Asia and winters in Southeast Asia and northern Australia, often near water.
Did you know?
- The type specimen was caught alive at sea near the Maldives and reportedly lived for a month on a diet of flies.
- On 7 February 2004 about 2.5 million Oriental Pratincoles were counted together on a beach in north-western Australia.
Voice
About the species
Identification
A slim, swallow-like wader with long, sickle-shaped wings, a short bill, a wide gape and an overall sandy-brown look. The throat is pale and bordered by a darker line, as is typical of pratincoles. The underwing is chestnut. Compared with Collared Pratincole the tail is often shorter and only shallowly forked, giving a more compact look in flight; it lacks the white trailing edge to the wing.
Family
Glareolidae
Size
Medium (thrush)
Colours
brown, white, black, orange
About the habitat
Open country near water – plains, dried-out wetlands, fields and shores; nests on bare ground.
Diet
Mainly flying insects hawked on the wing; it can also take prey from the ground.
Behaviour
Despite being a wader, it hunts in swift, swallow-like flight, often most actively near water in the evening. It migrates widely, gathers in flocks and nests on the ground, usually laying 2–3 eggs.
Sources
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glareola maldivarum - Beung Borapet.jpg
Sound: Sudipto Roy, XC127902, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://xeno-canto.org/127902
Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_pratincole
