Australian owlet-nightjar

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Australian owlet-nightjar
Australian owlet-nightjar A22I9928.jpg
In New South Wales
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Order: Aegotheliformes
Family: Aegothelidae
Genus: Aegotheles
Species:
A. cristatus
Binomial name
Aegotheles cristatus
(Shaw, 1790)
Australian Owlet-nightjar ebird data map.png
Global range
  Year-Round Range
  Summer Range
  Winter Range

The Australian owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus) is a nocturnal bird found in open woodland across Australia and in southern New Guinea. It is colloquially known as the moth owl. It is the most common nocturnal bird in Australia, and despite suffering from predation and competition by introduced species it is not considered threatened. [1]

Contents

Description and habitats

Australian owlet-nightjar mainly nests in tree hollows. Aegotheles chrisoptus - Catlereigh Nature Reserve.jpg
Australian owlet-nightjar mainly nests in tree hollows.

The Australian owlet-nightjar is a small to medium-sized owlet-nightjar with grey upperparts and a white, barred front and a distinct dark and pale patterning on the head. In the north of Australia females can also have a rufous morph. The plumage is overall paler in desert populations. Australian owlet-nightjar's are adapted to live in open woodland, with more pointed wings and larger feet, unlike most of the rest of the family that live in dense forest (though some individuals of this species can and do live in such habitat in Queensland and New Guinea). It lives in a variety of habitats in addition to open woodland, including mangrove swamps, grasslands, mallee scrub and dense forest. [2]

Behavior

The Australian owlet-nightjar feeds at night by diving from perches and snatching insects from the air, ground or off trunks and branches, in the manner of a flycatcher. It may also feed on the wing. It feeds on most insects, particularly beetles, grasshoppers and ants. During the day they roost in hollows in trees, partly for protection from predators and partly to avoid being mobbed by other birds that mistake them for owls. [2]

The Australian owlet-nightjar nests mainly in holes in trees (or in other holes and crevices), which is provisioned with leaves by both of the pair. It is thought that the frequent addition of eucalyptus leaves is because they act as a beneficial insecticide. Three or four eggs are laid, and incubated by the female for just under a month. Both the adults feed the chicks, which fledge after a month. The young birds are reported to stay close to the parents for several months after they fledge. [2]

The species is itself prey to another nocturnal carnivore, Macroderma gigas , a larger microchiropteran known as the ghost bat. [3]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barred owlet-nightjar</span> Species of bird

The barred owlet-nightjar is a species of bird in the owlet-nightjar family Aegothelidae. It is found in New Guinea. The species was originally thought to be the same species as the Australian owlet-nightjar, until that species was found within the range of the barred owlet-nightjar. It was also considered to be the same species as the Vogelkop owlet-nightjar. There are three subspecies, the nominate, from south-eastern New Guinea, A. b. wiedenfeldi from northern New Guinea, and A. b. plumifer from the D’Entrecasteaux Islands.

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International. (2016). "Aegotheles cristatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22689555A93236849. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22689555A93236849.en .
  2. 1 2 3 Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume Five, Barn-owls to Hummingbirds; de Hoyo, Elliot and Sargatal, ISBN   84-87334-20-2
  3. Boles, W. (June 1999). "Avian prey of the Australian Ghost Bat Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae): prey characteristics and damage from predation". Australian Zoologist. 31 (1): 82–91. doi:10.7882/AZ.1999.009.