The Australian Owlet-nightjar, being nocturnal and having large eyes for night vision, does look owl-like. However they are not related to owls at all and instead are more closely related to the swift family. They are widespread across Australia and are most often found by flushing or by seeing birds by day sunning themselves at tree hollow entrances.
Recently at Gluepot while searching unsuccessfully for Striated Grasswrens in mallee-spinifex habitat I flushed an Owlet-nightjar from close to the ground. The bird flew up into a nearby mallee where it perched and did not move while I slowly moved about to get some photos. Light on Owlet-nightjars can be a challenge for photos, especially to capture both eyes with eye-shine – hence my need to carefully/slowly move while the bird sat tight. The following are a selection of a few shots with cropped versions to better show the head and face detail – especially the eyes and rictal bristles.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
Cropped version of above photo showing face detail.
.jpeg)
Profile photo.
Cropped profile photos.
.jpeg)
Looking at the photos later and seeing rather worn tail-tips and thinking about the bird’s behaviour, I suspect this bird flushed from a nest – it did not fly far and stayed put while I moved about. In mallee habitat there are very few nest hollows at height, they are in the bases of the trees, which often are very old and contain hollows.
No comments:
Post a Comment