#nightjars

[simplified-birds]

Simplifed bird #83 - standard-winged nightjar

( requested by @zyzzylva )

[hasellia]

2026DrawDinoDaily, Day 77, Marchosauria, 17/03/2026

Standard-winged Nightjar (Caprimulgus longipennis)

BIRB! I love how pictures of Standard-winged nightjars come with the subject either half asleep or "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE" haha! The breeding males aren't very standard in their wings though, so I don't know why that's their common name. Once per breeding season, many of the males grow one feather on each wing that is longer than their body. I think this only happen in roughly 5 out of the 39 species within the genus. Also, "longipennis" actually means "Long wings" so I REALLY don't know why they called it "standard" in English! Why are they called that!?

[smallerdelusions]

Nightjars <3

Posted first on the Bird Lovers Community!

[etakeh]

NIGHTJARS

You heard me.  

Nightjars.

They are the BEST birds.  Don’t come at me with BUT CORVIDS y’all know Corvids aren’t birds, they’re magic.

Anyway.  Nightjars.  Why nightjars, you might ask.  Well let me tell  you why.

I’ve already told you about the Tawny Frogmouth

But there is also the Great Eared Nightjar

Pennant-winged Nightjar

Standard-winged Nightjar. Yes, those are part of its wings. No, I don’t know WTF.

This oddly shaped stump.  haha tricked you!  It’s a Tawny frogmouth and baby.

Lyretail Nightjar.  again, why.  again, no idea.

Australian owlet-nightjar

Swallowtail Nightjar.  Not so fancy?  look again. that mustache.

Not into cute mustaches on birds?

Tell that to this Sickle-winged Nightjar.  

Before it cuts you down with its badass wings.

Hey another stump - wait no it’s a FROGMOUTH

I’m not the first to have come to this conclusion.  

says right there.  BEST BIRD.

Ok whatever Indian Nightjar doesn’t care what you think about it.

If you don’t agree, you can sit over there and be wrong.

[hawkpartys]

i would like to introduce you all to my favorite genre of photo: nightjars being grasped firmly

all photos sourced from inaturalist, links in the image captions. these guys are being held for banding by professionals

[nightmaresyrup]

Nighthawk in a blanket. It hates waking up?

[daily-bird-facts]

this is the plain nightjar! while the name is a bit blunt, it is indeed one of the most uniformly-plumaged of the nightjars. (apparently, nightjars are so named because of how jarring it is to hear one suddenly call in the dead of night.) it occurs throughout central Africa and also on the southwest Arabian Penninsula. a small-scale migrant, living in most open-sky environments within its range but only breeding in the northern arid savannah.

nocturnal bug-catchers, with their enormous eyes intended to be able to spot flying insects using even the smallest bit of light. individual birds may be grey, brown, or rust-colored, each suited to loiter in different spots - and their unpatterned plumage lends itself very well to the bare earth and grasses of this critter's chosen homes. slightly sexually dimorphic, which i find unusual for a nightjar; males bear white-bordered tails, whereas females do not.

they seem to take to rockfalls or trees for their daytime resting spots, using roads mainly for nighttime naps. they trust so much in their camouflage that they respond to disturbance with just continuing to sit, only going for an escape once it's clear they've been seen. those little legs are capable of quite the launch upwards to kick off flight. even with their large variation in plumage, there is not yet one which camouflages on asphalt. and that's probably for the better, seeing as cars are more likely to leave you be if they can see you. it's unusual for an apex predator to work that way, but so it goes.

25 June 2026

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

I find nightjars weird cause I expect them to have teeth instead of a beak. I think I blame anurognathids for this.

Tbh, I feel if they could have teeth, they'd re evolve teeth