Black winged pratincole

Introduction: The black-winged pratincole (Glareola nordmanni) is named after Alexander von Nordmann (1803-1866), the Finnish Professor of Zoology and Botany at Odessa. They inhabit salt-pans in river valleys and lake depressions, as well as fields and fallow land without vegetation. Large colonies congregate near water and meadows and marshes with dense grass. They are a gregarious species, often observed in flocks of up to 100 and at times in their hundreds, even thousands.

Distribution: Etosha National Park, Caprivi and Kaudom National Park.

Diet: Huge flocks of black-winged pratincoles will gather to feed on locust swarms. They eat mainly insects such as grasshoppers, beetles and termites, crickets and ants, wasps and bees, flies and cockroaches.

Description: Crown tinged with cinnamon. Flight feathers black. Bill dark brown to black.

Breeding: Extralimital. Breeds in loose colonies of up to several thousand birds. Females lay clutches of 4 eggs.

Size: 25cm.

Weight: 100g.

Wingspan: 65cm.