All species › Nightjars › Nightjars
Nightjars | Caprimulgidae
Nachtzwaluwen | Chotacabras
Long pointed wings and a long tail give a light, floating flight in which insects are hawked low over open ground and along woodland edges. The claw of the middle toe is drawn out along one side into a small comb with fine teeth, with which the bird grooms its head and facial bristles. The song is a long, mechanical churring delivered from a perch; in display the male shows white spots at the wingtips and tail corners and claps his wings together above his back. Two eggs are laid straight onto the litter with no nest; hunting goes best by moonlight, and breeding is timed so that the young are being raised through the bright half of the lunar month.
Native species 7 species
Species that occur here by nature: breeding birds, winter visitors and passage migrants. They are arranged by genus, in the sequence of the list.
Caprimulgus 7 species
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Eurasian Nightjar
Caprimulgus europaeus
Mediterranean forest and maquis
Subtropical montane and juniper forest
Garrigue and herbaceous steppe
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Montane Nightjar
Caprimulgus poliocephalus
Subtropical montane and juniper forest
Mountains and rock formations
Orchards, olive and date plantations
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Egyptian Nightjar
Caprimulgus aegyptius
Oasis and date-palm groves
Sand desert
Salt lakes, chotts and sabkhas
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Golden Nightjar
Caprimulgus eximius
Sand desert
Wadis and dry riverbeds
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Plain Nightjar
Caprimulgus inornatus
Thorn scrub of the Arabian plains
Acacia savanna
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Nubian Nightjar
Caprimulgus nubicus
Salt lakes, chotts and sabkhas
Thorn scrub of the Arabian plains
Acacia savanna
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Red-Necked Nightjar
Caprimulgus ruficollis
Mediterranean forest and maquis
Garrigue and herbaceous steppe
Orchards, olive and date plantations
Vagrants 1 species
Birds blown in from other continents. They have no range here, and so no distribution map.
