Nubian Nightjar - BirdForum Opus

Photo by ammadoux
Botanical Garden, north east Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 10 September 2020

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Caprimulgus nubicus

Identification

21–22 cm (8¼-8¾ in)

Grey or buff upperparts with much black streaking
Crown may have rufous streaks or spots
Tawny nuchal collar
White throat patch
Buff underparts with brown bars

Male

Large white spots on 4 outer primaries
Broad white tips to outer tail feathers

Female has smaller wing and tail spots

Distribution

Middle East and eastern Africa
Middle East: found inIsrael and Jordan
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania
African Islands: Socotra

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 4 subspecies^[1]:

C. n. tamaricis:

Israel to Jordan, south-western Saudi Arabia and Yemen

C. n. nubicus:

Central Sudan

C. n. torridus:

Central Ethiopia to Somalia, Kenya and north-eastern Uganda

C. n. jonesi:

Socotra

Habitat

Dry scrubland with acacia, often near water, sparsely vegetated wadis. Bush coastal dunes

Behaviour

Diet

Their main diet consists of moths, grasshoppers and beetles, taken in flitting flight often over water. They will also forage on the ground amongst animal dung.

Breeding

The clutch contains 1-2 lilac blotched, white eggs which are laid directly on the ground usually under a thorn bush.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Lepage D. (2020) Avibase d. Retrieved 11 September 2020

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Nubian Nightjar. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Nubian_Nightjar

External Links

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