Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola)

OTHER NAMES: Common Pratincole
Latin Etymology: Glareola ("gravel") pratincola ("inhabitant of the meadow")

Adult Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) at Frampton Marshes, Lincolnshire - June 2025

Featured Subspecies: Presumed Glareola pratincola pratincola
Weight: 85g  /  Length: 24-28cm  /  Wingspan: 60-70cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Like other pratincoles, a perculiar wader with a more swallow like form and mode of feeding in the air. The Collared breeds around the Mediterranean and Central Asia, and Winters in Eastern and Equatorial Africa, although some populatons are resident, and, unsually, there are breeding migratory populations in Southern Africa. In the UK, it is the most frequent pratincole vagrant with usually a few records each year.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Glareolidae
Genus: Glareola
SUBSPECIES: G. p. pratincola, G. p. erlangeri, G. p. fuelleborni

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM -  A rare vagrant
 - Vagrant seen at Frampton Marshes in June 2025.

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

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Black-winged Pratincole (Glareola nordmanni)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Glareola ("gravel") nordmanni (for Alexander von Nordmann) 

Adult Juvenile in Summer Winter plumage of Species (subspecies ) at Finningley, South Yorshire - July 2024

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 95g  /  Length: 24-28cm  /  Wingspan: 60-68cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Near Threatened

The Black-winged pratincole is a species of wet meadows and marshland in open country - breeding from Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Wintering in Southern Africa. Like all Pratincoles, they hawk for insects on the wing more like swallows than other Charadriiformes.  Similar in appearance to both Oriental and Collared Pratincole, it can be differentiated by suble plumage differences including the namesake dark underside to the wings.  

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

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - An occassional vagrant
 - A vagrant seen at Finningley, in July 2024.

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

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Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum)

OTHER NAMES: Grasshopper-bird, Swallow-Plover
Latin Etymology: Glareola ("gravel") maldivarum ("of the Maldives")

Adult Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum) at 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 .