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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 4 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 4 species
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Red-necked nightjar
Caprimulgus ruficollis
Maquis, arborescent matorral and thermo-Mediterranean brush
Coniferous woodland
Garrigue
Sparsely wooded grasslands
Miscellaneous inland habitats with sparse or no vegetation
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Eurasian nightjar
Caprimulgus europaeus
Temperate shrub heathland
Lines of trees, small woods, felled and early-stage woodland
Coniferous woodland
Miscellaneous inland habitats with sparse or no vegetation
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Egyptian nightjar
Caprimulgus aegyptius
Miscellaneous inland habitats with sparse or no vegetation
Dry grasslands
Riverine and fen scrub
Littoral zone of inland surface waterbodies
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Nubian nightjar
Caprimulgus nubicus
Inland saline and brackish marshes and reedbeds
Riverine and fen scrub
Miscellaneous inland habitats with sparse or no vegetation
Arable land and market gardens