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Nightjars | Caprimulgiformes
Nachtzwaluwachtigen | Chotacabras
Night birds that take their food — flying insects — out of the air at dusk and in the dark. The bill is small but opens into a very wide gape framed by stiff bristles; the eyes are large and carry a mirroring layer behind the retina that sends the scarce light through the sense cells a second time and shines orange-red in a torch beam. The plumage is soft and loose and patterned like bark and dead leaves, which makes the flight all but silent and lets the bird sit out the day unnoticed, lengthwise along a branch or on the ground. The feet are small and weak and barely serve for walking; no nest is built, the eggs lie on the bare ground, and the downy young can shuffle a short way aside soon after hatching.
Families in this order
- Nightjars | Caprimulgidae8 speciesLong 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.