Oriental pratincole Oriental pratincole The oriental pratincole ("Glareola maldivarum"), also known as the grasshopper-bird or swallow-plover, is a wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae. 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. 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
Australian pratincole sandy-buff fringes. Sometimes there are dark flecks at the borders of the pale throat. Juvenile – The plumage is similar to a non-breeding adult but a slightly paler sandy brown colour. The lores lack the black colour and the forehead, crown and nape are streaked dark brown. The bill is grey-black with a faint reddish base. In flight – The upperbody and inner wing are sandy brown with black on the outer wing. The tail is square-cut with the upper-tail coverts and sides of the tail white. The Australian pratincole is slightly slimmer and smaller in size with longer legs