25-418: The great eared nightjar ( Lyncornis macrotis ) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae . It is found in southwest India and in parts of Southeast Asia . This very large nightjar has long barred wings, a barred tail and long ear-tufts which are often recumbent. It has a white throat band but has no white on its wings or on its tail. The great eared nightjar was formally described in 1831 by
50-497: A list of nightjars , sortable by common and binomial names. Nightjars inhabit all continents other than Antarctica, as well as some island groups such as Madagascar, the Seychelles, New Caledonia and the islands of Caribbean. They are not known to live in extremely arid desert regions. Nightjars can occupy all elevations from sea level to 4,200 m (13,800 ft), and a number of species are montane specialists. Nightjars occupy
75-874: A map of Early–Middle Eocene Earth, see the Paleomap project; here note that both the Caucasus Mountains and the Alps did not exist yet and aegialornithids were possibly present in North America. By the late Eocene (around 35 MYA ), primitive hummingbirds started to diverge from the related jungornithids; the Middle Eocene Parargornis ( Messel , Germany) and the Late Eocene Argornis , found in today's southernmost Russia , belong to this lineage. Cypselavus (Late Eocene – Early Oligocene of Quercy, France)
100-498: A particular challenge in that scientists do not have enough data to determine whether or not a species is endangered due to the difficulty in locating, identifying, and/or categorizing their limited number (e.g. 10,000) known to exist, a good example being the Vaurie's nightjar in China 's south-western Xinjiang Province (as seen only once in-hand). Surveys in the 1970s and 1990s failed to find
125-464: A wide range of habitats, from deserts to rainforests but are most common in open country with some vegetation. The nighthawks are confined to the New World, and the eared nightjars to Asia and Australia. A number of species undertake migrations , although the secretive nature of the family may account for the incomplete understanding of their migratory habits. Species that live in the far north, such as
150-507: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Nightjar Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae / ˌ k æ p r ɪ ˈ m ʌ l dʒ ɪ d iː / and order Caprimulgiformes , characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called bugeaters , their primary source of food being insects. Some New World species are called nighthawks . The English word nightjar originally referred to
175-474: Is somewhat difficult to assign; it is considered a primitive hemiprocnid. This would suggest that the major apodiform lineages diverged shortly after the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary . However, the perching adaptation of the foot of Eocypselus on which this theory rests may just as well be a symplesiomorphy . Most researchers believe that presently this genus cannot be unequivocally assigned to either
200-584: Is the largest species in the family in terms of length, which can range from 31 to 41 cm (12 to 16 in). Males weigh an average of 131 g (4.6 oz) and females weigh an average of 151 g (5.3 oz), making it the second heaviest species in the family after the nacunda nighthawk . It is found in South Asia and Southeast Asia with populations in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka , Bangladesh , India , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar ,
225-429: Is unique as a bird that undergoes a form of hibernation, becoming torpid and with a much reduced body temperature for weeks or months, although other nightjars can enter a state of torpor for shorter periods. In their pioneering DNA–DNA hybridisation work, Charles Sibley and Jon E. Ahlquist found that the genetic difference between the eared nightjars and the typical nightjars was, in fact, greater than that between
250-677: The European nightjar . Nightjars are found all around the world, with the exception of Antarctica, and certain island groups such as the Seychelles. They can be found in a variety of habitats, most commonly the open country with some vegetation. They usually nest on the ground, with a habit of resting and roosting on roads. The subfamilies of nightjars have similar characteristics, including small feet, of little use for walking, and long, pointed wings. Typical nightjars have rictal bristles , longer bills, and softer plumage. The colour of their plumage and their unusual perching habits help conceal them during
275-528: The Philippines , Thailand , and Vietnam . Its natural habitat is subtropical or moist lowland tropical forests . Like other nightjars they are nocturnal, active at dusk and at night. They have a distinctive call which includes a sharp tsiik followed by a pause and a two-syllable ba-haaww . The nest is a scrape on the ground and the clutch consists of a single egg. The chick is well camouflaged among leaf litter . This Caprimulgiformes -related article
SECTION 10
#1732880217009300-776: The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy , this order is elevated to the superorder Apodimorphae , in which hummingbirds are separated into a new order, the Trochiliformes . With nearly 450 species identified to date, it is the most diverse order of birds after the Passeriformes (the "perching" birds). As the name apodiforme —meaning "footless" in Greek —suggests, the legs of hummingbirds, swifts and treeswifts (or 'crested' swifts) are rather small and offer limited functional uses, aside from perching; their feet are covered with bare skin, rather than
325-479: The scutes seen on many birds. Another commonality amongst Apodiformes is their evolving longer wings with short and stout humerus bones, a development which has provided the hummingbirds, in particular, with the ideal wings for hovering . Together, the hummingbirds, swifts and treeswifts share several anatomical commonalities with their likely-closest extant relatives in the genus Aegotheles —the owlet-nightjars; in particular, similarities are noted between
350-644: The Apodiformes or the Caprimulgiformes. The Early Eocene Primapus , found in England, is similar to both a primitive swift and the aegialornithids , which are in some aspects intermediate between swifts and owlet-nightjars. Fossil evidence demonstrates the existence of swifts during that period in Europe . At that time, most of Europe had a humid, subtropical climate, possibly comparable to modern-day southern China. For
375-588: The European nightjar or the common nighthawk, migrate southward with the onset of winter. Geolocators placed on European nightjars in southern England found they wintered in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Other species make shorter migrations. Some species of nightjars are threatened with extinction. Road-kills of this species by cars are thought to be a major cause of mortality for many members of
400-586: The Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors based on a sample collected in the neighbourhood of Manila in the Philippines. Vigors coined the binomial name Caprimulgus macrotis . The great eared nightjar was formerly placed in the genus Eurostopodus . It and the closely related Malaysian eared nightjar were moved to the resurrected genus Lyncornis based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 that found large genetic differences between
425-548: The birds' skull structures. The owlet-nightjars are, apparently, convergent with the closely-related Caprimulgiformes (nightjars), which form a clade known as Cypselomorphae together with the Apodiformes and the frogmouths , oilbirds and potoos . The Apodiformes evolved in the Northern Hemisphere. Eocypselus , a primitive genus known from the Late Paleocene or Early Eocene of north-central Europe,
450-531: The day. Previously, all members of the orders Apodiformes , Aegotheliformes , Nyctibiiformes , Podargiformes , and Steatornithiformes were lumped alongside nightjars in the Caprimulgiformes. In 2021, the International Ornithological Congress redefined the Caprimulgiformes as only applying to nightjars, with potoos, frogmouths, oilbirds, and owlet-nightjars all being reclassified into their own orders. See Strisores for more info about
475-638: The disputes over the taxonomy of Caprimulgiformes. A phylogenetic analysis found that the extinct family Archaeotrogonidae , known from the Eocene and Oligocene of Europe, are the closest known relatives of nightjars. Traditionally, nightjars have been divided into two subfamilies—the Caprimulginae , or typical nightjars with 79 known species, and the Chordeilinae , or nighthawks of the New World, with 10 known species. The groups are similar in most respects, but
500-512: The family because of their habit of resting and roosting on roads. They also usually nest on the ground, laying one or two patterned eggs directly onto bare ground. Nightjars possibly move their eggs and chicks from the nesting site in the event of danger by carrying them in their mouths. This suggestion has been repeated many times in ornithology books, but surveys of nightjar research have found very little evidence to support this idea. Developing conservation strategies for some species presents
525-600: The great eared nightjar and other species in Eurostopodus . The genus name Lyncornis combines the Ancient Greek lunx / lunkos (meaning "lynx") with ornis , meaning "bird". The specific epithet macrotis is from the Ancient Greek makrōtēs , meaning "long-eared" (from makros meaning "long" and ous , ōtos meaning "ear"). Five subspecies are recognised: The great eared nightjar
SECTION 20
#1732880217009550-628: The more far-reaching one to group all the owls (traditionally Strigiformes) together in the Caprimulgiformes. The listing below retains a more orthodox arrangement, but recognises the eared nightjars as a separate group. For more detail and an alternative classification scheme, see Caprimulgiformes and Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy . Eurostopodus Lyncornis Gactornis Nyctiprogne Lurocalis Hydropsalis Nyctidromus Nyctipolus Siphonorhis Nyctiphrynus Phalaenoptilus Antrostomus Veles Caprimulgus Podager Chordeiles Also see
575-588: The species., implying that the species has become extinct, endangered, or found only in a few small areas. [REDACTED] Apodiformes The Apodiformes / ˈ æ p ə d ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / is an order , or taxonomic grouping, of birds which traditionally contained three living families —the Apodidae (swifts), the Hemiprocnidae (treeswifts), and the Trochilidae (hummingbirds); however, in
600-482: The typical nightjars and the nighthawks of the New World. Accordingly, they placed the eared nightjars in a separate family , the Eurostopodidae (9 known species), but the family has not yet been widely adopted. 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
625-533: The typical nightjars have rictal bristles, longer bills, and softer plumage. The underside of the claw of the middle toe is comb-like with serrations. Their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves, and some species, unusual for birds, perch along a branch rather than across it, helping to conceal them during the day. The subfamilies of nightjars have similar characteristics, including small feet, of little use for walking, and long, pointed wings. The common poorwill , Phalaenoptilus nuttallii ,
#8991