Stiltia isabella
The Australian Pratincole is a long-legged, slim-bodied bird with an upright stance and elegant posture when perched. It is sandy-olive with very long, narrow, pointed black wings, and has a deep chestnut brown and black patch on its flanks. When breeding, the bill is bright red at the base and on the gape, the legs and feet are dark grey, brownish or dark red. When not breeding, the plumage is duller, the bill mostly black, with blackish spotting on the throat and smaller flank-marks. The Australian Pratincole is also known as the Pratincole, Arnhem Land Grouse, Australian Courser, Roadrunner, Nankeen Plover and the Swallow-plover.
Not Threatened.
The Australian Pratincole is a long-legged, slim-bodied bird with an upright stance and elegant posture when perched. It is sandy-olive with very long, narrow, pointed black wings, and has a deep chestnut brown and black patch on its flanks. When breeding, the bill is bright red at the base and on the gape, the legs and feet are dark grey, brownish or dark red. When not breeding, the plumage is duller, the bill mostly black, with blackish spotting on the throat and smaller flank-marks. The Australian Pratincole is also known as the Pratincole, Arnhem Land Grouse, Australian Courser, Roadrunner, Nankeen Plover and the Swallow-plover.
19-24 cm, 65 g
Taxonomy:
- Glareola isabella Vieillot, 1816, “Australasie”. Forms apparent link between coursers and pratincoles. Sometimes included in genus Glareola, or at other extreme in its own subfamily Stiltiinae. Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution:
- Drier regions of N & E Australia, spreading further S in wetter years, but absent from SW; breeds sporadically throughout Australian range, but seldom N of 18° S; two breeding records in Trans-Fly, S New Guinea. Migrates to N Queensland and Northern Territory, New Guinea and E Indonesian archipelago as far NW as S Borneo.
It is most commonly found close to water, in open inland plains, sparsely wooded plains and tussock grasslands, usually in arid and semi-arid rainfall zones, and mainly in the lowlands. It is also found in areas of gibber (stony plains) and stony ground, and areas with sparse vegetation including claypans, stock-tanks, stock routes and airfields.
It is insectivorous, feeding at dawn and in the evening on insects, spiders and centipedes. It has active salt-glands, which enable it to drink both fresh and saline water. It dashes after insects and small prey and often bobs its head.
The Australian Pratincole can breed in any month after suitable rain. It is probably monogamous, and pair-bonds are maintained during breeding. Both sexes incubate the eggs and brood the young. The female lays the eggs on bare ground, sometimes choosing a small hollow in the ground, or scraping out a circle on stony ground. The nest is sometimes lined with small pebbles, dry vegetation or rabbit dung.