They are very brightly marked in black, white and orange, making them difficult to miss.

This bird has a black cap and orange bill that contrasts with the white body.

Young birds have bills that appear normal and with age the lower mandible grows.

[6] It is found on large rivers and lakes, swamps and coastal wetlands such as estuaries.

It is still found in parts of Pakistan in the Indus river system of Kashmir and northern and central India along the Ganges,[7] Bangladesh and Burma and formerly occurred in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

It is a scarce non-breeding visitor to Nepal and has occurred as a vagrant in Oman and central Thailand with old records from Iran and China.

[15] They have also been documented as breeding on the banks of the Mahanadi river at the Munduli barrage, Chandaka Wildlife Division in Cuttack.

The nest is a simple scrape on the ground mainly on open sand banks that provide unobstructed views of any oncoming predators.

They may indulge in a low-level of inter-specific brood parasitism, laying their eggs in the nests of river terns (Sterna aurantia).

[20] A bird at nest was once observed to pick up (and drop into water) an intruding chick of a river tern using its leg.

Most colonies are unprotected but some lie within nature reserves such as National Chambal Sanctuary in India.