- Glareola maldivarum
Identification
23-27cm (9-10½ in)
- Olive-brown back and head
- White rump
- Ochre throat
- Narrow black collar
- White belly
- Wings:
- long and pointed
- brown above
- chestnut underwing
- black flight feathers
- Long legs,
- Short bill
- Long forked tail
Similar Species
Black-winged Pratincole and Collared Pratincole
Distribution
Breeds eastern Asia and parts of India ( Haryana ); winters India to Southeast Asia, Philippines and Australasia.
Accidental vagrant to Alaska (2 records) and Europe.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Drier open areas, dry ricefields, pastures and plowed fields. Also wetland marshes, scrub and coasts
Behaviour
Flight
It has a tern like flight with long, pointed wings.
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets and beetles; in addition they hawk for flying termites. During the breeding season they will also find lizards and snakes.
Breeding
The clutch consists of 2-3 eggs which are laid on the ground from April to June . They are colonial nesters on open plains and on grassy islands with River Terns.
Vocalisation
Recording by Alok Tewari
Nazafgarh Wetlands, Delhi-Haryana Border, India, June-2015
Call given by one individual displaying on ground, while other was encircling above.
Photo © by Romy Ocon
Candaba wetlands, Pampanga province, Philippines, August 2008
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved June 2015)
- Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Oriental Pratincole. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Oriental_Pratincole
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
