No, I’ve never seen an Oriental Pratincole, and, no, I had no idea what they looked like until I saw the pictures. And, yes, I would like to be in a position where I could twitch one because they are, apparently, seriously cool-looking birds. Charlie, can’t you find the time to chase a cool pratincole in your home country?
More pictures are here.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
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They are cool looking birds. They have a real swallow like flight.
“Cool” and “pratincole” are perfect synonyms, entirely congruent in meaning and affect. I should be seeing Collareds over the next few weeks, and hope for an outlander is always there….
Corey, I’ve twitched all three northern pratincole species (Oriental, Collared, and Black-winged) already: if one turns up here at Great Chalfield though 10,000 Birds readers will be amongst the very first to know… 🙂