Little Pratincole
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| Little Pratincole Conservation status: Lower risk (lc) | ||||||||||||||
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| Glareola lactea Temminck, 1820 |
The Little Pratincole, Glareola lactea, is a small wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae.
The Little Pratincole is a resident breeder in India and southeast Asia. It breeds on gravel or sand banks in rivers, laying 2-4 eggs in a ground scrape.
This species is only 165-185cm in length, with a 150-160cm wingspan. Because of their small size, Little Pratincoles can be briefly confused in flight with swifts or swallows.
These birds have short legs, long pointed wings and short tails. They have short bills, which is an adaptation to aerial feeding. On the ground, they look mainly pale grey (hence lactea, milky). The crown of the head is brown.
The wings are grey above with black primaries and black and white bars at the rear edge of the inner flight feathers. The underwings are mainly black. The tail is white with a black terminal triangle. The belly is white.
The most unusual feature of the pratincoles is that although classed as waders they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they can also feed on the ground.
These are birds of open country, and are often seen near water in the evening, hawking for insects.