Small PartincoleGlareolalactea

Etymology:

• Glareola : Latin word for gravel
• Lactea : Latin word for milky white

Vernacular Names:  Sind: Utteran, Pun: Baunitatihri, Ben: Chhotababuibatan, Guj: Nanuthejpar, Ta: Kuruviulla, Mald: Abularge, Hindi: ChotiTitihari, Mar: ChotaArli

Distribution in India: Widespread resident in plains across the country except North West.

Description:

Size of 16-19cm.Upper parts pale sandy grey; forehead brownish; lores black; rump and base of tail white, with black subterminal band; primaries black, contrasting with pale coverts, secondaries white with black trailing edge; below pale rufous-buff, shading to white on lower belly and under tail; underwing black with white bar across secondaries and inner primaries; bill black with small amount of red at base; legs dusky to black. Adult non-breeding duller, loses black lores. Both the sexes are similar.

Habitat:

It is found in large rivers and streams with exposed sandbars, rocky islands and shingle banks, up to 1800 m in Himalayas

Food Habits:

They eat beetles, bugs, termites, flies and other insects, including dipterans, coleopterans and hemipterans. They are Crepuscular, forages in large flocks on the wing, either high in air or low over water or ground, in zigzagging flight like a swallow; also catch insects by running on ground

Breeding Habits:

Breeds in Feb-Apr.It is a colonial nester and nest with Terns and Skimmers.Nest is a shallow scrape, or no nest at all; on sandbank in river, even up to water’s edge. It lays a clutch of 2–3 eggs. The incubation period is for 17–18 days, by both sexes; during hot hours of day, incoming parent often wets belly plumage before return to nest, to cool eggs. Chicks fed by regurgitation by both parents. When threatened, mock-incubation and broken-wing distraction displays frequently performed by adults