Oriental Pratincole vs Small Pratincole

Oriental Pratincole

Glareola maldivarum

Medium75 gGrassland

The Oriental pratincole has short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails. It has a short bill, 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 and the underwings are chestnut. Very good views are needed to distinguish the species from other pratincoles, particularly the very similar collared pratincole, which also has a chestnut underwing. The black-winged pratincole shares the black upperwing flight feathers, and lacks a white trailing edge to the wing.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Sudipto Roy · Flight call · Kolkata, Rajarhat, West Bengal, India · CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Shiv's fotografia · CC BY 4.0

Small Pratincole

Glareola lactea

Small40 gRiverine

This bird has short legs, long pointed wings and a short tail. Its short bill is an adaptation to aerial feeding. On the ground, it looks 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.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Lorensonowal · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Oriental Pratincole and Small Pratincole.