Saturday 23 March 2019

Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum)

OTHER NAMES: Grasshopper-bird, Swallow-Plover
Latin Etymology: Glareola ("gravel") maldivarum ("of the Maldives")
Adult Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarumat Phnom Krom, Cambodia - February 2019

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 59-95g  /  Length: 23-27cm  /  Wingspan: 46cm
NO UK STATUS IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The pratincoles are an intriguing family of birds, they are wading birds that have evolved to feed in a swallow like manner by hawking for insects.  The Oriental is a migratory species found mostly in East Asia, which migrates largely to the Southern hemisphere outside the breeding season, though there are some small areas of resident populations.  They do also feed on the ground, but the two individuals I did see were flying rapidly overhead.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Glareolidae
Genus: Glareola
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -
CAMBODIA Khmer name: ទន្ទ្រីតធំ  
Locally fairly common Winter visitor
SINGAPORE / CAMBODIA 2019 TRIP - One distantly at Florican Grassland Reserve and another at Phnom Krom

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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