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Nightjar

Nightjars
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Caprimulgiformes
Family:Caprimulgidae
Genera
Caprimulgus 
Chordeiles   

Eleothreptus   

Eurostopodus   

Hydropsalis   

Lurocalis   

Macrodipteryx   

Macropsalis   

Nyctidromus   

Nyctiphrynus   

Nyctiprogne  

Phalaenoptilus   

Podager   

Siphonorhis   

Uropsalis

Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds with long wings, short legs and very short bills that usually nest on the ground and catch lying insects. Nightjars are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers from the mistaken belief that they suck milk from goats (the latin for goatsucker is Caprimulgus).

Nightjars are found around the world. They are mostly active in the late evening and early morning or at night, and feed predominately on moths and other large flying insects. Other names given to some of these birds include poorwill (from their cry) and nighthawk from their nocturnal hunting activities.

Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is crypically coloured to resemble bark or leaves. Some species, unusually for birds, perch along a branch, rather than across it. This helps to conceal them during the day.

Nightjars lay one or two patterned eggs directly onto bare ground.

Traditionally, nightjars have been divided into two subfamilies: the Caprimulginae, or typical nightjars with about 70 species, and the Chordeilinae, or nighthawks of the New World with about 8 species. The two groups are similar in most respects, but the typical nightjars have rictal bristles, longer bills, and softer plumage.

In their pioneering DNA-DNA hybridisation work, Sibley and Ahlquist found that the genetic difference between the eared nighjars and the typical nightjars was, in fact, greater than that between the typical nightjars and the nighthawks of the New World. Accordingly, they placed the eared nightjars in a separate family: Eurostopodidae.

Subsequent work, both morphological and genetic, has provided support for the separation of the typical and the eared nightjars, and some authorities have adopted this Sibley-Ahlquist recommendation, and also the more far-reaching one to group all the owls (traditionally Strigiformes) together in the Caprimulgiformes. The listing below retains a more orthox arrangement, but recognises the eared nightjars as a separate group. For more detail and an alternative classification scheme, see Caprimulgiformes and Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy.

ORDER CAPRIMULGIFORMES