Did You Know?
- The Nightjar is a nocturnal bird that is most active during dusk and dawn
- These stealthy birds have a shape similar to a Kestrel or even the Cuckoo bird
- The Nightjar is also known as the Goatsucker – as they were mistakenly believed to suck the milk from goats
The Stealthy Flier
The nocturnal Nightjar may just be one of the stealthiest birds in the world. As these birds operate during the darker hours of the day, it makes it very difficult to spot them as they are foraging for food. This means you need to rely on your ears if you hope to spot the elusive Nightjar (well, I guess you could technically smell them but you would need a pretty good sniffer to smell a flying bird). Unfortunately, this particular bird is known to be one of the quietest fliers on the planet. Our only opportunity to see a Nightjar in action comes when the males are in the mood to sing. They are often known to sing an interesting up and down song. Why they enjoy singing, I don’t know but really who doesn’t like singing (come on, you know you enjoy belting out your favourite song in the shower or while driving home after a long day at work)?
Happy Feet
It isn’t too often that you will see a Nightjar walking around, which is odd since they are ground nesters, so why live on the ground if you don’t want to stretch your legs and go for a walk? So why don’t they walk? Well, these particular birds have incredibly small feet and as such are pretty much useless when it comes to walking (or running). So instead, they spend their nights flying around and their days either bunkered down in their nest or perched on a nearby tree. Interestingly enough, the Nightjar tends to stand along the branch instead of across it, which is rather unusual as most birds prefer to grip underneath the branch. I guess this is where having small feet comes in handy…you are able to stand on small surfaces without having to worry about falling off.
