Orientbrachschwalbe

Bestimmung

These birds have short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails. They have short bills, which is an adaptation to aerial feeding. The back and head are brown, and the wings are brown with black flight feathers. The belly is white. The underwings are chestnut. Very good views are needed to distinguish this species from other pratincoles, such as the very similar collared pratincole, which also has a chestnut underwing, and black-winged pratincole which shares the black upperwing flight feathers and lack of a white trailing edge to the wing. These features are not always readily seen in the field, especially as the chestnut underwing appears black unless excellent views are obtained.

Taxonomie

Wissenschaftlicher Name

Glareola maldivarum

Autorität

Forster, JR, 1795

Ordnung

Regenpfeiferartige

Familie

Glareolidae

Gattung

Glareola

Verbreitung und Lebensraum

The Oriental pratincole is native to Asia, breeding from North Pakistan and the Kashmir region, sporadically southwards towards the Maldives and Sri Lanka, Indochina, eastern China, Manchuria and the Philippines. It is migratory and winters throughout the Indomalayan realm and western Australasia.

Brutgebiet

PAL, OR : patchily in temperate to tropical grassland near water of s to ne Asia: w India and Sri Lanka, se Asia to Malay Pen., e, ne China, Philippines, Taiwan, e Siberia and s, c Japan

Überwinterungsgebiet

OR, AU : grassy fields of Chagos Arch. and Maldives (wc Indian Ocean), Indian Pen. through Indonesian Arch., Cocos (Keeling), Christmas I. and Ashmore Reef (se Indian Ocean), n WA and n NT (n, nc Australia), Mariana Is. to Palau, Truk, Yap and Marshall Is. (w Micronesia)

Zugverhalten

Complete migrants

Schutzstatus

Bestandstrend

declining