The fiery-necked nightjar (Caprimulgus pectoralis) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae,[2] which is found mostly in Africa south of the equator, though it has been spotted in a few countries north of the equator.[3] It is most often found in woodland savannas or other deciduous woodlands.[3] It is usually distinguished by its tawny coloured collar which gives the species its common name.[3] It has a distinctive call that many have rendered as 'good-lord-deliver-us'.[3] The fiery-necked nightjar is an insectivorous species that mostly eats butterflies, moths and other insects.[3] The fiery-necked nightjar breeds after the dry season and typically produce two clutches with two eggs per clutch.[4][5]
The fiery-necked nightjar belongs to the Caprimulgidae family which includes roughly 90 species of nightjars, nighthawks and their relatives.[2] These birds are all insectivorous and most active at dawn, dusk and over night.[2] In addition, a distinguishing feature of this family is the pectinate claw, which these birds use for preening.[6] The Caprimulgidae family is divided into two subfamilies: the nighthawks or Chordeilinae and the nightjars or Caprimulginae.[6] The fiery-necked nightjar is part of the Caprimulginae subfamily. This subfamily can be recognized by its long rictal bristles located around the beak of the bird.[6] The fiery-necked nightjar is part of the Caprimulgus genus which contains the majority of the nightjar species.[2] The fiery-necked nightjar is most closely related to Caprimulgus poliocephalus or the Montane nightjar.[2]
- Caprimulgus pectoralis nigriscapularis (Black-shouldered nightjar which was once considered as its own species[7])
- Caprimulgus pectoralis shelleyi
- Caprimulgus pectoralis fervidus
- Caprimulgus pectoralis crepusculans
- Caprimulgus pectoralis pectoralis
Description
An adult fiery-necked nightjar is relatively small measuring between 23 and 25 centimeters.[3] Their plumage is mostly a variegated grayish-brown and brownish-white colour.[3] The fiery-necked nightjar has a distinct rufous collar, which are tawny coloured feathers located at the back of the neck, giving the species its common name.[3] They have a large white throat patch.[3] The feathers around their eyes and at their shoulders are chestnut brown.[7] They have a light colored crown at the top of their head with a darker spot at the center.[7] Black spots run down on either side the scapulas.[7] Their under feathers are brown, speckled and barred brownish white.[3] Their tail is roughly square-shaped.[7] The fiery-necked nightjar's beak is darkly coloured and its eyes are entirely black. This species is also sexually dimorphic.[3] The male has white spots on the four outermost wing feathers (the primaries) and white tips on the two outermost tail feathers.[3] These white spots are much smaller and a bit more buff-coloured on the female.[3]
The fiery-necked nightjar have long rictal bristles (or stiff hair-like feathers) around their beak which is usually a distinguishing feature in nightjars.[2][6] These rictal bristles can grow up to 20mm long and the fiery-necked nightjar can have up to 8 of them on either side of their face.[6] The rictal bristles take 18 days to grow on newly born chicks.[4] They are pale ivory colored at the base and darker at the tips.[6] The ones above the beak curl upwards to protect the bird's eyes, while the ones below curl downwards to aid the bird in catching prey.[6] The fiery-necked nightjars also have a pectinate claw on their middle toe, each with 9 bristles, allowing the bird to comb themselves during preening.[6]
Fiery-necked nightjar chicks are semi-precocial meaning they are more or less mature and mobile right after they hatch.[3] As a result, they are born with a bit of plumage. It consists of gray down with dark brown stripes that go from the bill, through the eyes, across the wings and the dorsal tracts which join at the preen gland.[4] They also have russet coloured plumes on their face and wings. In addition, the chicks have fuzzy light-coloured plumes on the crown of their head.[4] Newborn chicks measure roughly 5cm and weigh about 5 grams.[8]
The fiery-necked nightjar always stays within the African continent.[3] It will only migrate back to the same breeding location every year for breeding season, but it never strays too far from its homerange.[3]
The fiery-necked nightjar is best known for its very distinctive song. It consists of a series of mellow notes that many say sounds like "Good Lord, deliver us deliver us deliver us".[3] This song is often preceded by a wind-up call.[3] However, they can sometimes sing this wind-up call for a very long period and never switch to the full song.[3] The fiery-necked nightjar's song is usually only heard at dusk and dawn to attract mates before their breeding season.[3] They become much less vocal during the breeding season in order to attract less attention to their breeding grounds.[3] Any singing heard during breeding season is often produced by a fiery-necked nightjar that has yet to find a mate.[3] They can be observed singing from various perches, like trees, fence posts, and elephant grass, and are occasionally found singing from the ground.[3]
The fiery-necked nightjar often uses the "chuck" call as an alarm to inform other fiery-necked nightjars of possible danger.[4] The "chuck" call is also used when foraging.[4]
The "wooting" call is used by adult fiery-necked nightjars to help direct chicks away from danger.[4] When they hear this call, the chicks,as young as a couple days old, will immediately scurry towards the sound.[4]
The chicks produce quick "wee-you" calls at 1 second intervals.[4] As they grow, their calls become louder and have a longer duration.[4] In addition, researchers have noticed that this call can also be heard when the chicks are still in the egg.[4]
Diet
The fiery-necked nightjar is an insectivore, meaning it feeds on mostly insects.[3] Species from almost every insect family have been recorded to be in their diet, however, there are certain insects they tend to prefer.[3] In fact, butterflies, moths, beetles, cockroaches, termites and mantids were found most often when the fiery-necked nightjar diet was analyzed.[3] To forage for these insects, the fiery-necked nightjar uses a technique called “hawking”.[3] This consists of the bird swooping off of a perch to catch an insect while in flight.[3]
When feeding their hatchlings, the parents only feed them when the chick grasps the parents beak.[4]
Reproduction
Other species of nightjar usually breed during springtime before the dry season. However, the fiery-necked nightjar will breed after the dry season.[5] They will usually produce two clutches within a breeding season between the months of August and October.[5]
The fiery-necked nightjar nests are typically on a bare sand patch that the bird surrounds with leaf litter.[8] They often choose a well-hidden location under trees.[3][8] The eggs laid are a salmon pinkish colour with a few brown spots.[8] There are usually 2 eggs per clutch.[4] The female nightjar will sit on the eggs during the day and the male will take over in the late afternoon or early evening around 6 PM.[8] The incubation period is roughly 18 days.[8] The chicks are semi-precocial meaning they are almost completely independent as soon as they have hatched.[3]
The fiery-necked nightjar is most likely monogamous. In other words, the fiery-necked nightjar will mate for life and show strong fidelity to its mate.[3] Nonetheless, the female will often leave the male's territory when it is not breeding season.[3]
Status and conservation
The fiery-necked nightjar is listed as of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[9] This was last assessed in 2016.[9] It received this status due to its stable population and very broad distribution range.[9]
Related Research Articles
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tale that they sucked the milk from goats, or bugeaters, their primary source of food being insects. Some New World species are called nighthawks. The English word "nightjar" originally referred to the European nightjar.
The European nightjar, common goatsucker, Eurasian nightjar or just nightjar, is a crepuscular and nocturnal bird in the nightjar family that breeds across most of Europe and the Palearctic to Mongolia and Northwestern China. The Latin generic name refers to the old myth that the nocturnal nightjar suckled from goats, causing them to cease to give milk. The six subspecies differ clinally, the birds becoming smaller and paler towards the east of the range. All populations are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. Their densely patterned grey and brown plumage makes individuals difficult to see in the daytime when they rest on the ground or perch motionless along a branch, although the male shows white patches in the wings and tail as he flies at night.
Caprimulgus is a large and very widespread genus of nightjars, medium-sized nocturnal birds with long pointed wings, short legs and short bills. Caprimulgus is derived from the Latin capra, "nanny goat", and mulgere, "to milk", referring to an old myth that nightjars suck milk from goats. The common name "nightjar", first recorded in 1630, refers to the nocturnal habits of the bird, the second part of the name deriving from the distinctive churring song.
The rufous-cheeked nightjar is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is an intra-African migrant that breeds in the south of its range. It spends the non-breeding season in eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, southern Chad and Sudan, the Republic of the Congo, the D.R.C. and western Central African Republic. Throughout the year it can be found in Southern Africa. It is a nocturnal species that feeds on flying insects, mainly hunting at dusk and the early night. They can hunt at night thanks to their large eyes that are adept at seeing in the dark. They cannot see in complete darkness and most likely cannot see colours either. The rufous-cheeked nightjar forms monogamous pairs and the egg laying period is from September to November. It looks very similar to other African nightjars and they are frequently misidentified during research and studies.
The spotted nightjar or spotted eared-nightjar is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It inhabits much of mainland Australia and has also been found in several Indonesian islands. Its natural habitats are open forests and woodlands, scrub, spinifex and tussock grassland, savannah woodland and mangroves.
Gurney's sugarbird is a medium-sized passerine endemic to the mid- and high-altitude grassland velds in southern Africa. It belongs to the family Promeropidae, which contains one genus, Promerops, and two species. Gurney's sugarbird feeds on nectar from Protea bushes as well as on small insects. This bird is characterized by its long, graduated tail and decurved beak.
Antrostomus is a genus of nightjars formerly included in the genus Caprimulgus. They are medium-sized nocturnal birds with long pointed wings, short legs and short bills.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
