Oriental Pratincole

The Oriental pratincole, also called the grasshopper-bird or swallow-plover, has short legs, long pointed wings, a long forked tail and a short bill for aerial feeding. The back and head are brown, the flight feathers black, the belly white and the underwing chestnut, which can look black unless seen well. It is very like the collared pratincole, which also has a chestnut underwing (Wikipedia, general species account). It lays two or three eggs on the ground (Wikipedia, general species account). (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a bird of open country, often seen near water in the evening hawking for insects, although it can also feed on the ground. The genus name is a diminutive of Latin glarea, "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat for pratincoles. 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. (Wikipedia, general species account).