Nightjars | Caprimulgiformes

Nachtzwaluwachtigen | Chotacabras

Nightjars are dusk- and night-active birds with cryptic, bark- or leaf-coloured plumage that makes them almost invisible resting on the ground or a branch by day. The bill is tiny, but the mouth opens extremely wide and is often fringed with bristles, so flying insects can be scooped up on the wing. The feet are weak and barely fit for walking. No nest is built: the clutch of one or two eggs is laid directly on bare ground or leaf litter, where the incubating bird is nearly invisible thanks to its camouflage.

Families in this order

Nightjars and nighthawks | Caprimulgidae9 speciesIn the dark, these birds give themselves away through a bright, orange-red eyeshine: a reflective layer behind the retina, the tapetum lucidum, boosts the little available light and makes them easy to find with a flashlight. The nightjar itself gives the family its English name with a rasping song that can continue for hours after dark from a fixed singing post, while other family members clap their wings during display or dive steeply with a booming sound produced by their tail feathers. Some species also display in flight by day, giving a sharp, nasal call that carries far across open ground. One northern member of the family, Phalaenoptilus nuttallii, is the only bird known to drop into a true state of torpor for weeks at a time when food runs short, with body temperature and heart rate sharply reduced.