Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum)
Illustration redrawn by AI from a real photograph

Oriental Pratincole

Glareola maldivarum Forster, JR, 1795

≈24 cmLength61 cmWingspan75 gWeight

This wader often catches insects in the air like a swallow, with long, pointed wings and a forked tail.

Busiest months: April · Most records: China, Thailand, Cambodia

Looks like Collared Pratincole, Black-winged Pratincole

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

  1. Forked tail
  2. Long, pointed wings
  3. Rufous back and head; black flight feathers
  4. White belly and chestnut underwing

Similar species

Collared Pratincole
Collared Pratincole

Very similar to Collared Pratincole, which also has a chestnut underwing; a very good view is needed to distinguish them.

Black-winged Pratincole
Black-winged Pratincole

Black-winged Pratincole also has black flight feathers on the upperwing and lacks white feather edges along the trailing edge of the wing; the two are difficult to separate and require a very good view.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April · Most records: China, Thailand, Cambodia

Oriental Pratincole has been recorded at 751 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 38 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. Kenting NP – Sheding Lingxiao Pavilion (Raptors Observation Spot)Taiwan (China)821 records
  2. Mai Po Nature ReserveHong Kong (China)741 records
  3. Lat Krabang – Thap Yao paddies & aquaculture pondsThailand636 records
More places
  1. Nanhui DongtanChina384 records
  2. Ang Trapeang ThmorCambodia373 records
  3. Hualien River Estuary IBATaiwan (China)365 records
  4. Taichung – Taichung Metropolitan ParkTaiwan (China)352 records
  5. Matsu – Dongyin PlaygroundChina345 records
  6. Pathum Thani Rice Research CenterThailand340 records
  7. Phnom Krom – rice fieldsCambodia304 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaThailandCambodiaIndiaAustraliaSingaporeMalaysiaPhilippines

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The oriental pratincole (Glareola maldivarum), also known as the grasshopper-bird or swallow-plover, is a wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Oriental Pratincole?

The Oriental Pratincole is about ≈24 cm long, with a wingspan of 61 cm and weighs around 75 g.

Where does the Oriental Pratincole live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic, Oriental: patchily in temperate to tropical grassland near water of south to Northeast Asia: western India and Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia to Malay Peninsula, eastern, northeastern China, Philippines, Taiwan (China), eastern Siberia and southern, central Japan. It is most often recorded in China, Thailand and Cambodia.

When is the best time to see the Oriental Pratincole?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in April (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Oriental Pratincole endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Oriental Pratincole as Least Concern.

What does the Oriental Pratincole eat?

Main food: Insects & other invertebrates.

What family is the Oriental Pratincole in?

It belongs to the family Coursers, Pratincoles (Glareolidae), order Charadriiformes.

At a glance

Length
≈24 cm
Wingspan
61 cm
Weight
75 g
Habitat
Grassland
Diet
Insects & other invertebrates
Lifestyle
Feeds in the air
Migration
Migratory
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
176 mm
Tail
78 mm
Bill
18 mm
Tarsus
32 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Palearctic, Oriental: patchily in temperate to tropical grassland near water of south to Northeast Asia: western India and Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia to Malay Peninsula, eastern, northeastern China, Philippines, Taiwan (China), eastern Siberia and southern, central Japan

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Classification

Family
Coursers, Pratincoles Glareolidae
Genus
Glareola

Other birds in the genus Glareola

Australian PratincoleAustralian PratincoleGlareola isabellaRock PratincoleRock PratincoleGlareola nuchalisGrey PratincoleGrey PratincoleGlareola cinereaSmall PratincoleSmall PratincoleGlareola lacteaBlack-winged PratincoleBlack-winged PratincoleGlareola nordmanniCollared PratincoleCollared PratincoleGlareola pratincolaMadagascar PratincoleMadagascar PratincoleGlareola ocularisDouble-banded CourserDouble-banded CourserSmutsornis africanusBronze-winged CourserBronze-winged CourserRhinoptilus chalcopterusThree-banded CourserThree-banded CourserRhinoptilus cinctus
Oriental Pratincole

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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/). ↗

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