Glareola maldivarum

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Euavialae
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Ordo: Charadriiformes
Subordo: Charadrii

Familia: Glareolidae
Subfamilia: Glareolinae
Genus: Glareola
Species: Glareola maldivarum
Name

Glareola maldivarum J. R. Forster, 1795

References

Faunula Indica ed.2: 11.

Vernacular names
العربية: أبو اليسر شرقي
български: Източен огърличник
brezhoneg: Glareell ar reter
català: Perdiu de mar oriental
Cymraeg: Cwtiad-wennol dwyreiniol
dansk: Orientbraksvale
Deutsch: Orientbrachschwalbe
English: Oriental Pratincole
Esperanto: Orienta glareolo
español: Canastera oriental
فارسی: مرغ چمن شرقی
suomi: Aasianpääskykahlaaja
français: Glaréole orientale
עברית: שדמית מזרחית
magyar: Keleti székicsér
Bahasa Indonesia: Terik asia
italiano: Pernice di mare dal collare
日本語: ツバメチドリ
ភាសាខ្មែរ: ទន្ទ្រីតធំ
한국어: 제비물떼새
മലയാളം: വലിയ മീവൽക്കാട
монгол: Ухаа хөгт
Bahasa Melayu: Burung Kedidi Padang
नेपाली: ठूलो पानीगौंथली
Nederlands: Oosterse vorkstaartplevier
norsk: Orientbrakksvale
Diné bizaad: Táshchozhii jáádnézí bizééʼ diniltsxooígíí
polski: Żwirowiec orientalny
svenska: Orientvadarsvala
中文: 普通燕鸻

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

The genus name is a diminutive of Latin glarea, "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat for pratincoles. The species name maldivarum refers to the type locality, the ocean near the Maldive Islands; the type specimen, caught alive at sea, survived for a month on flies.[2]
Description

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.
Habits

An unusual feature of all 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. The oriental praticole is a bird of open country, and they are often seen near water in the evening, hawking for insects.
Nesting

Their 2–3 eggs are laid on the ground.
Distribution

The Oriental pratincole is native to the warmer parts of South and Southeast Asia, breeding from North Pakistan and the Kashmir region across into China and south west. It is migratory and winters in both India and Pakistan, Indonesia and Australasia.
Vagrancy
They are rare north or west of the breeding range, but, amazingly, this species has occurred as far away as Great Britain more than once. The first record for the Western Palearctic was in Suffolk, England in June 1981.[3] On 7 February 2004, 2.5 million oriental pratincoles were recorded on Eighty Mile Beach in Australia's north-west by the Australasian Wader Studies Group[citation needed] . There had previously been no records of this magnitude and it is supposed that weather conditions caused much of the world's population of this species to congregate in one area.

References

BirdLife International (2016). "Glareola maldivarum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22694132A93440161. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22694132A93440161.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 174, 239. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Burns, David W. (1993) Oriental Pratincole: new to the Western Palearctic British Birds 86(3): 115–20