The animal on the cover of Essential Silverlight 2 Up-to-Date is a collared pratincole (Glareola pratincola). A shorebird with a large migratory range, the collared pratincole, also known as the common pratincole, can be found in southwest Asia, Africa, and the warmer parts of Europe. These birds migrate south to tropical Africa in the winter. The collared pratincole's wings and upper body are smoky-brown, while the underside is a pale yellow or white. Giving the bird its name, the throat is pale with a dark collar. While otherwise similar in appearance, males and females can be distinguished by the male's brighter colored beak, which may have a red base.

The collared pratincole measures six to nine inches long, has up to a 25-inch wingspan, and weighs between one and three ounces. Pratincoles have long forked tails, long pointed wings, short legs, and short arched beaks adapted for aerial feeding. Their long wings make them able to migrate long distances. Flocks of collared pratincoles are most active in the morning and evening, and often rest during the warmest parts of the day. They lay between two and four dull, smooth, oval-shaped eggs in nests in shallow holes in the ground. Both the male and female parents incubate the eggs, which hatch after 17 to 19 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and are able to fly after one month. Unlike other shorebirds, which generally eat small invertebrates or insects dug out of soil or mud, pratincoles hunt while in flight and only sometimes hunt on the ground. Their diet consists of various insects, such as dragonflies, beetles, winged termites, and grasshoppers.