Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 21, 2026

Pratincole

The pratincoles are a genus of birds, Glareola, that comprise the subfamily Glareolinae, which together with the coursers make up the family Glareolidae. They have short legs, very long pointed wings, and in several, long forked tails.

Last revised
Jun 21, 2026
Read time
≈ 3 min
Length
622 w
Citations
11
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Pratincoles
Small pratincole (Glareola lactea) from Mangaon, Maharashtra, India
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Glareolidae
Subfamily: Glareolinae
Genus: Glareola
Brisson, 1760
Type species
Hirundo pratincola
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

see text

The pratincoles are a genus of birds, Glareola, that comprise the subfamily Glareolinae, which together with the coursers make up the family Glareolidae. They have short legs, very long pointed wings, and in several, long forked tails.

Taxonomy

The genus Glareola was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the collared pratincole (Glareola pratincola) as the type species.12 The genus name is a diminutive of Latin glarea, "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat.3

Although traditionally thought to be waders, particularly closely related to plovers,4 genetic studies now classify the coursers and pratincoles in the suborder Lari, more closely related to gulls and terns, and closest of all to the crab-plover.5

The Australian pratincole was formerly placed a separate genus Stiltia. It is longer-legged and more terrestrial than the other pratincoles,67 but is now included in the genus Glareola, as its exclusion leaves Glareola paraphyletic with G. nuchalis being basal in the group.5

The name "pratincole" comes from the term pratincola coined by German naturalist Wilhelm Heinrich Kramer from the Latin words prātum meadow and incola resident.8

Description

Their most unusual feature is that they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they will also feed on the ground, running to pick up insects. Their short bills are an adaptation to aerial feeding.

Their flight is fast and graceful like a swallow or a tern, with many twists and turns to pursue their prey. They are most active at dawn and dusk, resting in the warmest part of the day.

Like the coursers, the pratincoles are found in warmer parts of the Old World, from southern Europe and Africa east through Asia to Australia. Species breeding in warm temperate regions are long-distance migrants.

Their two to four eggs are laid on the ground in a bare scrape.

The downy pratincole chicks are able to run as soon as they are hatched.9

Species list

References

References

  1. Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. Vol. 1, p. 48, Vol. 5, p. 141.
  2. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 303.
  3. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Cramp, Stanley (1983). Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: Waders to gulls. Oxford London New York: Oxford university press. pp. 84, 98. ISBN 0-19-857506-8.
  5. Černý, David; Natale, Rossy (2022). "Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 177 107620. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  6. "Sandpipers, snipes, Crab-plover, coursers – IOC World Bird List". IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2. 2025-02-20. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  7. Hayman, Peter; Marchant, John; Prater, Tony (1986). Shorebirds: An Identification Guide. Croom Help. pp. 78, 253. ISBN 0-7099-2034-2.
  8. Lockwood, W B (1993). The Oxford Dictionary of British Bird Names. OUP. ISBN 978-0-19-866196-2.
  9. Newton, Alfred (1911). "Pratincole" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 254–255.
  10. AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 7 November 2025.