Oriental Pratincole

The oriental pratincole (Glareola maldivarum), also known as the grasshopper-bird or swallow-plover, is a wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae. These birds have short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails. They have short bills, which is an adaptation to aerial feeding. The back and head are brown, and the wings are brown with black flight feathers. The belly is white. The underwings are chestnut. Very good views are needed to distinguish this species from other pratincoles, such as the very similar cpllared pratincole, which also has a chestnut underwing, and black winged pratincole which shares the black upperwing flight feathers and lack of a white trailing edge to the wing. These features are not always readily seen in the field, especially as the chestnut underwing appears black unless excellent views are obtained.

Another species specific trip to get this one and collared pratincole, both of which were lifers for me. We observed that it was easier to get close to them if we were in our car than on foot or crawling. This is one shot I particularly like that I took when I was approaching it laying flat on the ground.