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Small Pratincole Index Showed Strong Long-term Decline, While Recent Trend Remained Unclear

Small pratincole in Bhigwan, Maharashtra, India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds reported revised national trend estimates for the small pratincole (Glareola lactea) in India. The numerical update was released on 6 May 2026 as part of the project’s updated eBird-based dataset.

The long-term numerical estimate was −58.3% and clearly supported a strong long-term decline. The current annual estimate was −0.97% per year, but its uncertainty was too broad to establish a clear recent increase or decline. The species page still displays the carried-over 2023 categories Rapid Decline for the long-term trend and Trend Inconclusive for the current annual trend; these labels were not recalculated from the 2025 numerical estimates.

The species’ modelled distribution range in India was estimated at 947,522 km². State of India’s Birds lists the small pratincole as a resident wetland specialist, non-endemic to India, and retains it in the Moderate conservation-priority category.

The interim release updated numerical range and trend estimates for 942 previously assessed bird species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds. The assessment categories themselves were not recalculated in this update.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status – 2025 interim update (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 dataset release created 6 May 2026. Version 2 updated numerical distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025; the assessment categories were unchanged.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: Small Pratincole (Glareola lactea), India.National 2025 numerical update: long-term trend −58.25% (−66.30 to −47.11), current annual trend −0.97% (−2.28 to +0.33), distribution range 947,522 km² (946,847–948,197), resident status, wetland specialization and non-endemicity.
  3. SoIB. (2023). State of India’s Birds, 2023: Range, trends, and conservation status. The SoIB Partnership. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11124589Primary national assessment whose categories remain in force after the 2025 numerical update: Small Pratincole is Moderate Priority, with Rapid Decline for the long-term trend and Trend Inconclusive for the current annual trend.

Image: Tisha Mukherjee / Wikimedia Commons — small pratincole (Glareola lactea) photographed in Bhigwan, Maharashtra, India, 12 January 2026; representative species image, cropped to 16:9 from the original · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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