Nightjar what eats in nature. Nightjar is a very strange bird. Where is the nightjar found

03.11.2019

nightjar- it is the size of a starling: length is about 28 cm, weight is 75 g. However, because of the long wings and tail, it seems larger and resembles a small hawk in flight. The nightjar keeps secretly. During the day, when it sits on the ground, it merges so well with the forest floor that you can walk next to it and not notice it, unless it takes off from under your feet.

It is difficult to see a nightjar even when it sits on a thick bough, stretching out along it and clinging to the bark. This secretive bird is active only at dusk, but leaves a lot of tracks, which is important for the tracker. It was the tracks that helped me to identify some features of the life of these birds, which I had never heard of before.

After wintering in Africa (or India, where the eastern populations of these birds spend their cold time), nightjars return to their native places. It occurs from the end of April to the middle of May. 25 days after arrival, the birds start nesting. And if the nightjar's spring song, similar to the long rumbling of a toad, had not been heard, one might not have known about his presence in the forest.

The nests of these birds are located in the forest right on the ground, and only in damp summer - on a pile of rotten brushwood or an old decayed stump. Clutch contains 2 rather large, marble-colored eggs equally rounded at both ends. They lie in a small depression right on the forest floor of dry needles, rotten leaves and moss. The size of the eggs is about 31.95 x 22.3 mm.

Not far from Valdai, on a dry hillock among the forest, a pair of nightjars nested for several years in a row. On an area of about 100 m2, we found a nest every year. Each time it turned out to be at a new point, but not far from the place where the birds nested before, usually no further than 25-50 m. This suggested that the same pair or at least one of the old ones nested here all these years. birds who knew this place. The nearest nest of another pair was 1 km from this nest.

In the last year of work in these places, when we arrived here, there were already eggs in the nest of nightjars. The female sat on the nest so tightly that she allowed me to sketch herself from a distance of 4 m. We left without waiting for the chicks to hatch. And the second time they came here only in August. However, almost until the end of this month, I continued to meet a couple of grown, but still short-tailed young nightjars, keeping together with the female.

Incubation of eggs in nightjars lasts 16-18 days, and feeding stretches up to 20 days. After that, the young leave the nest, but their parents feed them for about 10 more days. It turns out that about 48 days pass from the beginning of incubation to the moment when the young become independent, but much more time has passed since the day when I drew the incubating female. Most likely, some predator killed the first clutch. This was also indirectly indicated by the find - a small piece of shell near the former nest. With the successful hatching of the chicks, you find the shells broken in two.

During the day, the nightjars all together, the female and the young, descended many times to the same place. Three times I found them near a fallen pine trunk, and then I found 3 more similar places nearby. In Armenia, I also found places for nightjars with broods. All of them were similar and represented a noticeably trampled area of about 30×40 cm, on which from 22 to 100 heaps of litter were scattered and rare small feathers were visible. Occasionally, one could also find bird pellets here. All this pointed to the repeated use of the same sites by birds for daytime.

The droppings of the nightjar are very peculiar and easily distinguished from the droppings of other birds. This is a thin dark "sausage", twisted into a tight spiral, covered on top, like icing, with a white convex crust. On the sites that I examined, there was litter of various sizes. The larger one, about 17 mm in diameter, apparently belonged to an adult bird, while the smaller one (about 10 mm) was a chick. Chick litter is always much larger.

Nightjar pellets seem to be rarely shed. When examining 10 places of bird daytime, on which there were at least 600 heaps of droppings in total, I found no more than 10 pellets. These are small, about 17 × 11 mm, oval brownish lumps, consisting of small particles of insect chitin. In composition, they differ little from the contents of the litter, although, it would seem, they should have consisted of fragments of larger insects, because it is known that nightjars catch both large beetles and large night butterflies. Apparently, at the end of summer, large insects, such as May beetles or woodcutter beetles, are rarely seen by these birds.

The nesting hole of nightjars can be seen even at the end of autumn. She often helped me to find broken in two shells of eggs thrown out of the nest after the chicks hatched. Unlike many birds that carry out their shells and leave them far from the nest, nightjars do not. The shell lay only 20-40 cm from the place where the bird was incubating.

Upon careful examination, in the deepening of the nest, one could find horny scales of feather caps (dandruff) and rare small feathers. Around the nesting hole there were a lot of small nesting droppings and rare heaps of droppings of adult birds. This indicates that during the growth period, the chicks do not sit still, but move around the nesting hole, sometimes moving away from it by 20-30 cm.

Traces of a nightjar on a dusty forest road (the bird either sat in one place for quite a long time, sometimes jumping, or repeatedly returned here and sat down to rest). On the right - the lower surface of the nightjar's foot, below - a pellet consisting of soft chitin of insects, litter of an adult bird and a chick

Hunting for insects over clearings, roads and forest clearings, from time to time the nightjar sits down to rest on the branches of dry trees, tops of pillars or directly on the ground. On the road dust, it is easy to find the resting places of these birds. Traces of small short legs of a nightjar are easily recognizable, as they have characteristic features. The size of the imprint is 3×2 cm. The middle finger is almost twice as long as the short lateral fingers, the back one, although short, always leaves a noticeable imprint in the form of a line slightly deflected inward on soft dust.

In front of the middle finger, there is a trace of a curved claw (0.5 cm). Looking at the tracks left on the road, you see that the bird did not move on the ground, but sat in one place, sometimes either jumping, or taking off and again falling to its original place. This can be judged by the fact that on top of some pairs of tracks you often see other prints. The Nightjar sits on the ground with his toes slightly apart and his heels together. The distance between the ends of the middle fingers of a sitting bird is about 4.5 cm, between the ends of the hind fingers 2, and the width of a pair of paws is about 6 cm. Litter near temporary perches is rare.

Nightjar is a secretive bird. It is active at dusk and at night. Light and agile in flight, it rarely falls prey to predators, both diurnal and nocturnal. And yet I found a bunch of nightjar feathers one day at the place of the hawk's meal.

It feeds on insects that it hunts in the air.

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✪ Nightjar. Bird country.

✪ Common Nightjar

✪ Mimicry: Northern Potoo. Mimicry: Mexican Wood Nightjar (2249sp)

✪ Northern Potoo; night. Mexican forest nightjar; night (2250sp)

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Description

Appearance

A small, graceful bird. Length 24.5-28 cm, wingspan 52-59 cm, male weight 51-101 g, female weight 67-95 g. The body is somewhat elongated, like that of a cuckoo, with long, sharp wings and a relatively long tail. The beak is very short and weak, but the slit of the mouth looks very large. Long and hard bristles are developed at the corners of the mouth. The legs are very small - it seems that the bird sitting on the ground pressed its whole body to the ground. The middle finger is longer than the rest and is partially connected by membranes with neighboring ones. The plumage is soft and loose, like that of owls - because of this, the nightjar sometimes looks a little larger than it actually is.

The color is typical patronizing - a motionless bird is quite difficult to detect on a tree branch or in fallen withered leaves. The nominative subspecies has a brownish-gray upperparts, with numerous transverse streaks and stripes of reddish, chestnut and black colors. The underparts are brownish-buffy, with a pattern of small darker transverse stripes. A pronounced white stripe is developed under the eye. There are small spots on the sides of the throat, pure white in the male and red in the female. In addition, the male has developed white spots at the ends of the wings and at the corners of the outer helmsmen, but otherwise both sexes are very similar to each other. Young birds are more like an adult female. The beak is black, the iris is black-brown.

The flight is energetic and maneuverable, but at the same time silent. In addition, the bird is able to hover in one place like a kestrel, as well as glide with its wings wide apart. It moves reluctantly on the ground, preferring to sit on a patch of soil without vegetation. Sensing the approach of a predator or a person, a resting bird tries to merge with the surrounding landscape, hiding and clinging to the ground or a bough. If the danger is too close, the bird takes off easily, flapping its wings loudly, and moves away a short distance. On the Iberian Peninsula and in northwestern Africa, a related red-necked nightjar nests, which differs from the common one in larger sizes, elongated wings and a noticeably greater development of gray in plumage. In addition, this species is distinguished by a "collar" of buffy feathers on the upper neck and more developed white markings on the wings and tail. The winter range of the common nightjar is partially overlapped by the ranges of the rufous-cheeked ( Caprimulgus rufigena) and bridle ( Caprimulgus fraenatus) nightjars. Both of these African species, like the red-necked one, have a pronounced semi-circle of buffy feathers on the neck and white spots on the wings and tail. The bridle nightjar, moreover, is much darker than the ordinary one. British ornithologist David Snow David Snow) and Christopher Perrins (eng. Chris Perrins) in their fundamental work on the birds of the western Palearctic, they emphasized that meeting the common nightjar is a matter of luck rather than knowledge.

Voice

Being an inconspicuous bird, the nightjar is primarily known for its peculiar singing, which is unlike the voices of other birds and can be heard in good weather at a distance of up to 600 m. The male sings, usually sitting on the bough of a dead tree on the outskirts of a forest clearing or clearing. His song - a dry monotonous trill "rrrrrr" - is somewhat reminiscent of the rumbling of a green toad or the rumble of a small motorcycle, only louder. A monotonous rattling with short breaks continues from dusk to dawn, while the tone, frequency and volume of the sound periodically change. From time to time, the bird interrupts the trill with a high and drawn-out “furr-furr-furr-furrry…”, as if the measured roar of the engine suddenly choked. Having finished singing, the nightjar always leaves the tree on which he was sitting. The male starts mating a few days after arrival and continues to sing all summer long, ceasing for a while in the second half of July. Data on male singing outside nesting areas are contradictory: some sources indicate that his trill can sometimes be heard also during migration and wintering, while others claim that the bird is silent at this time. If the lingering trill is characteristic only for the male, then birds of both sexes can make other sounds. In flight, nightjars often staccatoly cry "week ... week." Alarm signals are various variations of a monosyllabic clatter or hollow hiss.

Spreading

area

The common nightjar breeds in the warm and temperate zone in northwestern Africa and Eurasia from the Atlantic east to Transbaikalia, where it is replaced by another species - a large nightjar, which is distinguished by a darker color and a different configuration of white spots on the tail. In Europe, it is found almost everywhere, including on most of the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, however, it is rare in the central part. More common in the Iberian Peninsula and in Eastern Europe. Absent from Iceland and northern parts of Scotland and Scandinavia, as well as southern Peloponnese.

In Russia, it breeds from the western borders to the east to the basin of the Onon River (border with Mongolia), meeting in the north to the subtaiga zone: in the European part to the Arkhangelsk region, in the Urals to about the 60th parallel, on the Yenisei to Yeniseisk, to northern Baikal and the middle part of the Vitim plateau. In the south, outside of Russia, it is distributed in Western Asia south to Syria, northern Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, east to western India, in western China to the northern slope of the Kunlun and to Ordos. In Africa it breeds from Morocco east to Tunisia, south to the High Atlas.

habitats

Inhabits open and semi-open landscapes with dry, well-heated areas, while the main factors for successful nesting are dry litter, a good viewing area and the ability to suddenly take off from the nest from under the nose of a predator, as well as an abundance of nocturnal flying insects.

The nightjar avoids a continuous dark forest, and only one subspecies, C.e. plumpibes, occurs in the desert landscape of the Gobi. As a rule, it inhabits the plain, however, under favorable conditions, it settles down to the subalpine zone. So, in the mountains of Central Asia, nightjars are common in the mountains above 3000 m above sea level, and in wintering places they are found on the ice border at an altitude of up to 5000 m above sea level. Human economic activities, such as deforestation and firebreaks, have a positive effect on the number of nightjars. On the other hand, the abundance of highways often becomes fatal for the population of these birds. The light of car headlights attracts nocturnal insects, which are hunted by the nightjar, and the asphalt warmed up during the day is a convenient place for rest. As a result, birds often fall under the wheels, which leads to total extermination in areas with heavy traffic. Another important factor that negatively affects the number of birds is human anxiety during the nesting period, in particular, early visits to forests by mushroom pickers and berry pickers.

Migrations

The common nightjar is a typical migratory species, annually making long-distance migrations. The main wintering grounds for the nominate subspecies, which breed throughout much of Europe, are in eastern and southern Africa, although a small proportion of birds also move to the west of that continent. Subspecies meridionalis, inhabiting the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and areas adjacent to the Caspian Sea, winters in the southern and, possibly, central regions of the African continent, and also in small numbers in the west. Subspecies Sarudnyi, unwini and dementievi living in the steppe and mountainous regions of Central Asia, apparently moving to the east and southeast of Africa. In addition, small concentrations of wintering birds form unwini recorded in Israel, Pakistan and probably northwestern India. Nightjars of the subspecies also winter in southeast Africa. plumipes. Migration takes place on a wide front, however, birds on migration stay alone and do not form flocks. Outside the natural range, accidental flights have been documented in Iceland, the Faroe, Azores and Canary Islands, Madeira and Seychelles.

reproduction

Sexual maturity occurs at the age of about one year. Males arrive for nesting weeks two weeks earlier than females, when leaves bloom on the trees and flying insects appear. Arrival dates vary from the first ten days of April in northwestern Africa and western Pakistan to the first days of June in the Leningrad region of Russia. In central Russia, most of the birds occupy nesting sites from mid-April to mid-May. The male arriving at the place soon starts displaying - he sings for a long time, sitting along the side branch. From time to time the male changes position, moving from one tree to another. Having noticed the female, the male interrupts the song with a sharp cry and loudly flaps his wings, attracting her attention. During courtship, the nightjar slowly flutters like a butterfly and often hangs in one place, while holding the body almost vertically and wings in the form of the Latin letter V, so that signal white spots are clearly visible.

The male shows the female several potential places for future egg laying, landing on each of them and making a monotonous trill. A female flying up nearby also makes sounds. Later, the female independently chooses a place for future egg laying, near which mating takes place. There is no nest as such, eggs are laid directly on the ground, usually on the forest floor in the form of last year's foliage, needles or wood dust, where the mother hen will remain invisible. Most often, the nest is covered with a bush, ferns or fallen branches, however, it has a good overview around and the ability to take off quickly and silently in case of danger.

The clutch, usually in late May or early June, usually contains 2 eggs of an elongated ellipsoid shape, measuring (27-37) x (20-25) mm. Occasionally, one or two more eggs come across in the nest, which, apparently, are foundlings. The shell is shiny, has a white or grayish background, and an intricate marble pattern of gray and brown spots. Incubation lasts about 17-18 days. The female spends most of the time on the nest, and only sometimes in the evening or in the morning the male replaces her. When a predator or a person approaches, the sitting bird hides and squints its eye turned to the stranger, and if the danger is close, it tries to lead away from the nest, pretending to be a wounded bird. Caught off guard or unable to fly, the nightjar chick hisses, mouth wide open, and lunges towards the enemy.

The chicks are born at intervals of a day and upon hatching, almost completely (with the exception of small areas on the back of the head and back) are covered with fluff - streaked brownish-gray above and buffy below. They quickly become quite active, and unlike adult birds, they walk well. For the first 4 days, only the female feeds the offspring, and then both parents. During the night, parents return to the nest with prey about 10 times, each time bringing up to 150 insects in the goiter. At the age of two weeks, the chicks make their first attempts to take off, and after another week they are already flying short distances. By 5 weeks after hatching, the brood is completely independent and disperses to the immediate surroundings before going on its first long wintering journey.

Food

Active from the onset of darkness to dawn, it hunts both in the forage area and far beyond its borders. If there is enough food, it takes breaks at night and rests, sitting on a branch or on the ground. Insects are usually caught in flight, sometimes pre-guarding prey from an ambush - a bough of a tree on the edge of a clearing or other open place. In addition, apparently, it pecks food from branches or the ground. After a night hunt, nightjars sleep during the day, but do not hide in hollows or caves, like owls, but settle openly - among fallen leaves or on a tree branch, in the latter case, located along the branch, and not across like most birds. During this period, the nightjar can be detected only by chance, frightened from a close distance - the motley plumage, squinted eyes and inactivity merge it with the environment.

origin of name

Nightjars are often seen near grazing domestic animals. They prey on flies, horseflies and other insects that accompany the animals. They not only fly side by side, but also run on the ground among animals, sometimes even right between the legs. All this, as well as the unusually large mouth of the nightjar, became the basis for the name. By the way, you are more likely to see a live nightjar in the evening near a herd of cows or goats. It is very difficult to spot him in the forest.

Classification and subspecies

The common nightjar was scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his System of Nature in 1758. generic name Caprimulgus, translated from Latin literally meaning "nightjar" or "milking goat" (from the Latin words capra- goat, and mulgere- to milk), was borrowed from the Natural History (Liber X 26 Ivi 115) of Pliny the Elder - this famous Roman historian and writer believed that birds drink goat's milk at night, sticking to the udder of animals, which subsequently go blind and die. Indeed, birds are often found almost at the very feet of grazing livestock, but this is due to the abundance of insects disturbed by animals or flocking to the smell of manure. The name, based on an erroneous opinion, was preserved not only in science, but also migrated to several European languages, including Russian. specific name europaeus("European") directly indicates the region where the species was originally described.

There are 6 subspecies of the nightjar, in which variability is expressed in overall size and variation in the overall color of the plumage:

Caprimulgus europaeus europaeus Linnaeus, 1758- northern and central Europe to the east to Baikal, to the south to about 60 ° N. sh.
Caprimulgus europaeus meridionalis Hartert, 1896- Northwest Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, the northern Mediterranean, Crimea, the Caucasus, Ukraine, northwestern Iran and the coastal regions of the Caspian Sea.
Caprimulgus europaeus sarudnyi Hartert, 1912- Central Asia from Kazakhstan and the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea east to

Nightjar, or Caprimulgus europaeus, or night swallows, is a small, nondescript night bird of the true nightjar family. It is widely distributed in the temperate latitudes of Eurasia, as well as in northwestern Africa. No larger than a thrush, the nightjar is distinguished by its discreet brownish-gray plumage, thanks to which it is impossible to see a small bird against the background of fallen leaves or bark.

Like other species of this family, the nightjar has large eyes, a small beak and at the same time a large mouth cut, short legs, unsuitable for moving on the ground, and also not suitable for grabbing branches.

That's why these birds sit along the branches and not across them. Nightjars are found in pine, well-lit forests, clearings and clearings, wastelands and wastelands, and in southern Europe - in thickets of evergreen thorny and hard-leaved shrubs.

This is a migratory bird, it winters in Africa a little south of the Sahara, and feeds on insects that it catches in the air.

Appearance

Nightjar is a small and very graceful bird. Its body length is from 26 to 28cm, its wingspan is from 54 to 60cm, and its weight is only 60-110g. The body of the bird is slightly elongated, the wings are long and sharp, and it also has a rather long tail.

The plumage is loose and soft, just like owls, so the nightjar seems larger than it really is. From above, the color of the plumage is brownish-gray, with many transverse mottles and stripes of reddish, black and chestnut colors.

The abdomen is buffy-brown, there are smaller dark transverse stripes. Under each eye - a pronounced strip of white. On the sides of the throat, the male has small white spots, and the female has red spots in a similar place. The male still has white spots on the ends of the wings. Otherwise, females and males are very similar.

As soon as a bird feels the approach of danger (a person or a predator), it tries to merge with the background surrounding it, clinging to a branch or ground. If the danger is too close, the nightjar takes off easily and quickly, flapping its wings loudly, and flies away for a short distance.

The gait of the birds is very clumsy, but in flight they are graceful and beautiful, dexterous and graceful. They fly low - not because they cannot, but because the higher, the fewer insects.

Voice
The nightjar successfully compensates for the inconspicuousness of its appearance with a peculiar singing, it is unlike the voices of other birds and is perfectly audible at a distance of up to one kilometer. Males sing while sitting on a tree branch at the edge of a clearing or clearing.

The song of the male nightjar is like a monotonous dry "rrrrrrrrr", it is somewhat reminiscent of the grumbling of frogs or the rattling of a motorcycle, only much louder. With short breaks, such a rattling can last from dusk to dawn, sometimes changing the volume and frequency of the sound, as well as the tone.

If the nightjar is frightened, this trill will be replaced by a higher tone and indignant “furr-furr-furrruyu ...”, as if the roar of the motor suddenly choked. Having finished baking, the nightjar always soars up and flies away. Usually this mating begins a couple of days after the arrival of males from wintering and lasts all summer, with a short pause in mid-July.

Spreading

The common nightjar breeds in the temperate and warm zone of northwestern Africa, as well as Eurasia, to the very Transbaikalia, where it is replaced by a large nightjar. In Europe, the nightjar can be found almost everywhere, as well as on the islands of the Mediterranean, but in the Central part it is almost absent. More often it can be seen on the Iberian Peninsula and / or in Eastern Europe.

In Russia, the nightjar breeds from the western border to the east to the border with Mongolia along the Onon River, in the north it can be found up to the subtaiga zone - in the European part almost to Arkhangelsk, in the Urals to the 60th parallel, on the Yenisei up to Yeniseisk, northern Baikal and the middle of the Vitim Plateau.

Outside Russian borders, the nightjar is distributed south to Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and northern Iraq, east to western India, western China, and in Africa from Morocco to Tunisia.

For a quiet life, a nightjar needs dry litter, a wide field of view and the possibility of a sudden take-off from the nest from under the very nose of a predator, and an abundance of nocturnal insects is also desirable.

Therefore, the nightjar usually settles in open and semi-open landscapes with well-heated dry areas. That is why he is attracted to moorlands, wastelands and clearings, sparse pine forests with sandy soil, clearings, fields, river valleys and swamps, shrubs, rocky and sandy soils, abandoned quarries and military training grounds, steppes, slopes of gullies and floodplain forests.

Deforestation and the arrangement of firebreaks favorably affect the increase in the number of nightjars, but the abundance of highways becomes disastrous for them.

The light from the headlights attracts a lot of nocturnal insects - the favorite food of nightjars, and the heated asphalt is so convenient for rest. As a result, the busier the traffic, the faster the destruction of nightjars.

Migrations
The common nightjar is a typical migratory species and annually makes long-distance migrations. Usually the migration takes place on a wide front, but the birds stay alone, not straying into flocks.

reproduction
Nightjars reach sexual maturity in their second year of life, but usually start breeding another year after that. These birds nest in pairs, and often pairs are reunited for the next season.

Males arrive 10 days earlier than females, settle in a suitable area and begin to lek - they sing, flap their wings and lay intricate turns.

While courting, the male nightjar slowly flutters like a butterfly, often hovering in one place, while holding the body almost vertically and spreading its wings in the form of the letter V. At the same time, white signal spots are clearly visible, which, apparently, are needed just for attracting a female. Males may even fight to attract the attention of a female.

After the female pays attention to him, the male shows her several suitable places for future egg laying - he lands on each of them, making a quiet monotonous trill.

The female makes the same sounds; later, she herself will choose a place for masonry, and mating will take place near it. Nightjars do not build nests; eggs are laid directly on the ground, more precisely - on the forest floor from last year's dry foliage, needles, wood dust, here the hen will not be so easy to see. Often the place of laying eggs is covered by some bush, fallen branches or ferns, but at the same time there is a good overview around.

The female usually lays eggs at the end of May or at the beginning of June; it contains 2 eggs of an elliptical elongated shape. There may be one more or a couple of eggs in the nest - these are most likely foundlings. Nightjar eggs have a shiny shell, usually white or grayish with a complex marbled pattern of brown and gray spots. The female incubates the eggs for about 18 days, and sometimes the male replaces her, more often in the evening or in the morning.

If a predator approaches the nest, the bird sitting on the masonry freezes and squints its eye facing the uninvited guest. If the danger is too close, the bird selflessly tries to lead away from the nest, pretending to be wounded.

If the nightjar is taken by surprise, or he cannot take off, then he hisses bravely, opening his mouth wide and lunging towards the attacker.

Chicks from eggs do not appear all at once, but with an interval of about a day, one after another, almost completely covered with down, brownish-gray above, buffy below.

At first they are very ugly due to the disturbed proportions of the body, but pretty soon the proportions even out.

They already walk well, better than adult birds, and quickly become quite active. In the first four days, the female personally feeds the offspring, and then the male joins this process.

During the night, the parents return to the nest about 10 times, bringing about 150 insects in the goiters of their beaks. After 2 weeks, the chicks are already making attempts to take off, and a week later they can already fly close to the nest.

After 5 weeks of hatching, the brood becomes completely independent and scatters around the area before being sent for the first long wintering.

Nightjars tend to take care of their offspring. If something threatens the laying, the birds in the mouth will transfer the eggs to another, safer place, and will protect them with all their might. All species of nightjars breed chicks once a year.

Food
Nightjar feeds on flying insects, which it hunts mainly at night. Most often, beetles and moths, as well as midges and mosquitoes, bedbugs, mayflies, wasps and bees fall into its diet.

Small stones, sand, plant remains are often found in the stomachs of these birds - the birds clearly use them to improve digestion. Birds burp undigested leftover food in the form of pellets - this feature unites them with falcons and owls.

At night, the nightjar is very active, hunting both in its forage territory and beyond. If there is enough food, it can take breaks and rest on a branch or on the ground. It catches insects in flight, but sometimes it also watches from an ambush, and also pecks from branches or the ground.

During the day, nightjars usually sleep, but not in hollows or caves, but openly - among fallen leaves or on tree branches, located along the branch. It is almost impossible to find him during the day - unless you are lucky enough to frighten him away by accident.

Flight of the nightjar
The flight of a nightjar is worthy of a separate chapter or even a whole poem. During the day, he flies uncertainly and erratically, but at night he is completely transformed - he flies quickly, dexterously, easily, then soaring smoothly in the air, like a swallow, then suddenly darting swiftly to the side, like a kite.

sense organs
The nightjar's vision is best developed, followed by hearing and touch. Regarding the sense of smell, whether nightjars have it or not, scientists have not yet come to a consensus. Their taste is not too developed, these birds also do not shine with mental abilities.

natural enemies
Nightjars don't have many enemies. A person does not hunt them - many peoples believe that killing a nightjar can bring trouble to people. This is the opinion of the Hindus, the Negroes of Central Africa, the Spaniards and some African tribes.

Nevertheless, large snakes, predatory animals and birds prey on nightjars, but the total harm caused by all these predators is small.

Types of nightjars:

1) nightjar- a lot has already been said about him above.
2) Red-necked nightjar- found in the south-west of Europe, mainly in Spain. It is noticeably larger - body length up to 31 cm, wingspan 61 cm, wing length 20 cm, and tail length 16 cm. It is found even on mountain cliffs that are not rich in vegetation.
3) Plaintive nightjar- the most famous species in North America.
4) Lyrebird Nightjar almost twice as large as an ordinary nightjar - up to 73 cm body length reaches, of which the tail is about 55 cm. They live in dense forests, not too numerous.
5) pennant nightjar slightly larger than usual, lives in equatorial countries inside the African continent.

Interesting video with nightjar

Being an excellent flyer, the nightjar annually makes long-range seasonal migrations without much difficulty.
Habitat. Europe, Asia and Africa.

Habitat.
The range of the common nightjar extends into regions with a warm and temperate climate. This bird, which is not too demanding for habitat conditions, nests on the edges of forest glades, moorlands and clearings, preferring dry and light pine forests. It is also found on the outskirts of deserts and rare mixed forests, in shrubby semi-deserts, on treeless or forest-poor areas of mountains and foothills. Much less often it can be seen in deciduous forests. Lacking strong fingers, the nightjar sits on a branch not across, but along, as it cannot tightly grasp the branch with its paws.

Species: Common nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus.
Family: True nightjars.
Order: Goats.
Class: Birds.
Subtype: Vertebrates.

Reproduction.
In May-June, the male occupies the home area and, sitting on a branch, stump or other elevation, notifies the neighbors about this with a monotonous “singing”, similar to the purring of a cat. His recital is intended primarily for the ears of the female and can last up to an hour. As soon as a female appears on the chosen site, the owner immediately falls silent and breaks into flight, screaming loudly and flapping its wings. Showing off in front of the chosen one, the gentleman makes sharp turns so that she can better see the white spots on his wings and tail. Having achieved the favor of a girlfriend, the male immediately mates with her, and soon the female lays 2 eggs on the leaf litter. The function of the nest is performed by a depression in the soil, which is formed as it incubates, which lasts 16-21 days. The male replaces his wife on the clutch only in the evenings. Chicks hatch sighted and covered with thick brownish down. For 17 days they stay near the nest, not forgetting to get acquainted with the surroundings. At the sight of danger, the babies hiss loudly and open their beaks wide.

Lifestyle.
Nightjars live alone for almost the entire year, forming pairs only during the nesting period. During the day, birds sleep or rest, sitting motionless on the ground or sprawled on a horizontal branch. Thanks to the camouflage coloration of the plumage, the nightjar dissolves without a trace in the colorful play of shadows and light and breaks into flight only from a sudden fright. Unfortunately, the same camouflage does bad service to the nightjars, because, relying on it, many birds die on the roads under the wheels of cars. It happens that, having crouched on the asphalt of the highway, the nightjar does not consider it necessary to give way to cars and, out of habit, soars into the air at the last moment, when a collision is already inevitable. Having taken off in the evening twilight to hunt, the nightjar feeds on nocturnal moths and beetles, catching them in the air with its wide-open mouth. In search of prey, tactile bristles growing around the beak help him.

Did you know?

Nightjars got their name from the belief in many villages that these birds fly up to herds of goats in the evenings and milk the animals with their huge mouth.
The male nightjar can be distinguished from the female by white spots on the tips of the primary flight feathers and on the tail.
The sleeping nightjar living in North America is the only one in the feathered kingdom that falls into hibernation, which lasts about 3 months. The body temperature of a bird that has fallen into a stupor drops to 17°C (at a rate of 40°C). Hibernation is an effective energy-saving method of survival at low temperatures, because in 100 days the nightjar consumes no more than 7 g of fat.
Farmers always see nightjars as welcome neighbors, as these insectivorous birds help to fight insect pests. The stomach of one nightjar can accommodate more than 1000 insects.

Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus.
Length: 25-28 cm.
Wingspan: 57-64 cm.
Weight: 50-100 g.
Number of eggs in clutch: 2.
Incubation period: 16-21 days.
Food: insectivorous.

Structure.
Bristles. The slit of the mouth and beak are surrounded by tactile bristles, making it easier to grasp insects in flight.
Beak. The short light beak is slightly bent down, like a bird of prey. The mouth opening is very large.
Eyes. Large eyes are located on the sides of the head.
Body. The outlines of the slender body of the nightjar give it some resemblance to a falcon.
Legs. The legs are very short with weak toes. The back finger looks inward at a right angle.
Plumage. The plumage on the back is grayish-brown with dark and yellowish streaks and longitudinal stripes.

related species.
The goat-like order includes 5 families: fatty, owl frogmouths, frogmouths, performing nightjars and real nightjars. Representatives of the largest family of true nightjars live on all continents in the temperate and warm climate zone, as well as on most oceanic islands. All nightjars have a number of common features: a short soft beak, camouflage coloration, long narrow wings, and maneuverable flight.

area

Only nests Migration routes

Migration areas conservation status

Systematics
on Wikispecies

Images
at Wikimedia Commons

ITIS
NCBI
EOL

The flight is energetic and maneuverable, but at the same time silent. In addition, the bird is able to hover in one place like a kestrel, as well as glide with its wings wide apart. It moves reluctantly on the ground, preferring to sit on a patch of soil without vegetation. Sensing the approach of a predator or a person, a resting bird tries to merge with the surrounding landscape, hiding and clinging to the ground or a bough. If the danger is too close, the bird takes off easily, flapping its wings loudly, and moves away a short distance. A related red-necked nightjar nests in the Iberian Peninsula and in northwestern Africa, which differs from the common one in larger sizes, elongated wings and a noticeably greater development of gray in plumage. In addition, this species is distinguished by a "collar" of buffy feathers on the upper neck and more developed white markings on the wings and tail. The winter range of the common nightjar is partially overlapped by the ranges of the rufous-cheeked ( Caprimulgus rufigena) and bridle ( Caprimulgus fraenatus) nightjars. Both of these African species, like the red-necked one, have a pronounced semi-circle of buffy feathers on the neck and white spots on the wings and tail. The bridle nightjar, moreover, is much darker than the ordinary one. British ornithologist David Snow David Snow) and Christopher Perrins (eng. Chris Perrins) in their fundamental work on the birds of the western Palearctic, they emphasized that meeting the common nightjar is a matter of luck rather than knowledge.