Collared Pratincole
Glareola pratincola
Elegant, agile flier that looks like a cross between a plover and a swallow. Adult is warm gray-brown with an elegant “necklace” and red bill base. Juvenile is grayer, with white-fringed feathers. Very narrow (sometimes unnoticeable) white trailing edges to wings and dark rusty underwings distinguish this species from similar pratincoles. Usually seen in buoyant flight over open country, from dry fields to grassy wetlands with muddy shorelines. Inconspicuous on the ground; note short-legged and very long-winged “horizontal” profile. Feeds mainly in flight, sweeping back and forth like a giant swallow to snatch aerial insects.
Identification
This pratincole is 24–28 cm (9.4–11.0 in) long with a 60–70 cm (24–28 in) wingspan. It has short legs, long pointed wings, a long forked tail, and a short bill, which is an adaptation to aerial feeding. The back and head are brown, and the wings are brown with darker flight feathers. The belly is white. The underwings are chestnut, but look dark below.<p>Very good views are needed to distinguish this species from other pratincoles, such as the black-winged pratincole and the oriental pratincole, which may occur in its range. The latter species also has a chestnut underwing, but is shorter-tailed.
Taxonomy
The collared pratincole was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the swallows and swifts in the genus Hirundo and coined the binomial name Hirundo pratincola. The collared pratincole is now placed in the genus Glareola that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The genus name is a diminutive of Latin glarea, "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat for pratincoles. The species name pratincola means an inhabitant of meadows, from Latin pratum, prati, "meadow" and incola, "inhabitant", from incolere, "to inhabit".<p>Two subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Glareola pratincola
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Glareolidae
- Genus
- Glareola
Range and habitat
The collared pratincole is a bird of open country, and is often seen near water in the evening, hawking for insects. It is found in the warmer parts of Europe, southwest Asia and Africa. It is migratory, wintering in tropical Africa, and is rare north of the breeding range.
- Breeding range
- AF, PAL : patchily s temperate to tropical grassland near water, w, c Palearctic and Africa
- Non-breeding range
- AF
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Pratincoles are unusual among waders in that they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they can also feed on the ground.<p>The nesting is colonial. The nest is a shallow scrape on open ground often near water. The clutch is 2–4 eggs which have a cream background with black or dark brown blotches, spots or streaks. On average the eggs measure 32 mm × 24 mm (1.26 in × 0.94 in) and weigh 10 g (0.35 oz). Beginning after the last egg is laid, they are incubated by both parents and hatch synchronously after 17-19 days. The young are precocial and nidifugous. They leave the nest after 2–3 days and are then cared for by both parents who feed them with regurgitated food for the first week. The young fledge when they are 25–30 days of age.
Conservation
The collared pratincole is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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