Adults: Breeding: Lores, narrow necklace, black, bordered with white toward throat. Top of head, back, tertials, olive brown. Hind neck continuing to breast, reddish-olive brown. Eye, dark brown. Lower rump, uppertail feathers, and basal half of tail, white. Primaries, secondaries, blackish. Throat, buff. Belly, light buff. Undertail coverts, white. Wing coverts, chestnut. Bill, black with gape and base of lower mandible red. Legs, brownish-black. Non-breeding: Similar to breeding plumage but necklace less defined. Breast, olive brown.
Immatures: No necklace. Throat, whitish. Upperparts have buff edges to feathers.
Other Names (World)
Oriental Pratincole, Eastern Collared Pratincole, Grasshopper-bird, Little Storm-bird, Swallow-plover, Swarmer
Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (mainland), Christmas Island, Guam (NB), Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Mongolia (B), Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Pakistan, Palau (NB), Philippines, Russia (Asian), Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB) (P), USA, Vietnam.
Vagrant to Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom.
Extreme southern Siberia, north-eastern Mongolia and southern Manchuria, south to northern India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and south-eastern Asia; also locally in western Japan and Ryukyu Is; has bred in Pakistan, Philippines and Borneo. Winters from India and south-eastern Asia through Indonesia and New Guinea to Australia.
Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum) [XC650905]
by Sunny Tseng from Ban Na Khouay, Vientiane Prefecture, Laos (flight call)
Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum) [XC415709]
by Agris Celmins from Tambon Nong Ya Plong, Amphoe Nong Ya Plong, Chang Wat Phetchaburi, Thailand (flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds May - July in eastern Asia.
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Nest
A depression in the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 3; grey-yellow or cream with blotches, patches and spots in various dark browns and greys; rounded-oval; about 31 x 24 mm. Incubation: probably both sexes.
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) and Black-winged Pratincole (Glareola nordmanni), although some authorities exclude latter from the superspecies. Sometimes considered conspecific with Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola).
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella)
Underwing coverts, dark. Upperwing, sandy olive, but with black primaries. Tail, black, with white edges and tip, and not forked.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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