The rock pratincole is an African wading bird which I saw at Murchison Falls in Uganda. I first saw it while below the falls on a boat that had come up from Paraa. One was on a rock, right next to the water. Later that day we went to the top of the falls and our guide, William, pointed them out on the bank where the river was rushing rapidly down to the falls.
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| Near the bottom of Murchison Falls. |
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| Near the top of Murchison Falls. Note how frothy the water is. Birds of the World has a photo taken in about the same place. |
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| Illustration from Birds of the World. |
They have dark gray or brown plumage with a white line beginning beneath the eye extending to the back of the neck like a collar. The bill is black with a red base and the legs and eyes are coral red. The wings are long and dark with a white patch on the underwing. The tail is forked and they usually have a white belly. There are two subspecies. I saw the "white naped" nominate ssp. nuchalis. There is a "rufous naped" ssp. liberia which has a rufous hindcollar.
They live in flocks of about 26 pairs on the rocks feeding upon insects in the morning and evening and wading in the water during the heat of the day. Its diet is mostly flies, moths, ants, beetles, grasshoppers and cicadas.
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| Range map from Birds of the World. |
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