Oriental Pratincole (Immature, UAE)
Oriental Pratincole (Immature, UAE)
Oriental Pratincole (Immature, UAE)
Recordings 
Scientific Name 
Glareola maldivarum
Arabic Name 
أبو اليسر الشرقي
Kuwaiti name 
خطاف عمان
Width 
63.0 cm
Length 
23.0 cm
Least Concern
Similar species 

In Kuwait

Information

Extremely rare vagrant. This species is the eastern equivalent of the Collared Pratincole.
Where in Kuwait 
Kuwait’s first and only record concerns one bird at Sulaibiya Pivot Fields in late March 2008. It has similarities to both Collared and Black-winged Pratincole and care and skilled observation is required to separate Oriental from the two more common species
In the world 
It has an extremely large range and breed from Northern Pakistan and the Kashmir region across into China and south west. In February 2004, 2.88 million birds were counted by aerial survey on 80 Mile Beach, north-western Australia, and were assumed to constitute the majority of the world population, thus a global estimate of 2.9-3 million individuals is estimated. Their most unusual feature of the Pratincoles is that although classed as waders, they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like Swallows
Local threats 
Pesticides in farmland areas