General News
28 June, 2025
BARRY'S CORNER: Nightjars
Nightjars are an elusive bird species because they are birds of the night and do not move unless disturbed from their roost or hollow.
Once at its daytime hiding spot in the early morning or during the night, these shy and cryptic birds will stay put.
It's only in the late evening, when it is really too late to see more than a couple of metres, that the bird flies off to feed for most of the night.
The big eyes allow it to gather all the star and moonlight and while it is listening for any insect sound when it pounces down to grab it.
If it is disturbed in daylight, they will fly directly to another suitable site and shelter until night, and then it may not return to the first site for the time being.
Nightjars are not owls or even related to owls, but a special group of night workers and night flyers with a wide mouth gape that can catch insects while on the move.
Owls and nightjars work in similar territory but keep away from each other.
There are five species of nightjar across Australia, with only two likely to be heard or sighted in Western Victoria.
The tiny Owlet nightjar is so small it is often called the moth owl because it seems to be unweirdly in a more than a slight breeze.
While the Spotted Nightjar is a larger bird which lives on the ground and uses its camouflage to blend in with its background and you have to almost step on it before it flushes and flies away.
They are not angry birds and make every effort to escape from danger.
Sometimes I am told these birds are a figment of imagination because they are never seen, but nearly every district would have them both, just they are rarely sighted.
They consume a lot of insects during a feeding time in the night.
The owlet nightjar has a slightly longer tail than you might think of a bird that size.
It uses hollows in trees and I had one in a veranda nest box that rosellas also made use of.
There would be a fight for possession when nesting time came around however the rosellas always won because they fight in a different weight category than the diminutive nightjar.
Nightjars can often be heard rather than seen.