Owlet Nightjar - Daytime Vocalisations
Over the past few months as I have been out working out on my block I have
heard the "scream vocalization" of Owlet Nightjars during the middle of the
day. All but one of the 5 or 6 times I have noted this, a bird only called
once. All of these instances have occurred during the middle of the day with
the sun high in the sky, albeit under the forest canopy. Up until last weekend
I had only noticed this from the territory near our guest cottage and assumed
at first that the call was a startled bird. I don't think so any longer as it
does not happen when I first walk down to the area.
Last weekend I heard it again while I was working on a trail away some 200
meters away from the other territory. Thinking that I must be mixing this
vocalization up with something else, I went down to that spot after dark and
played a tape. Within a few seconds I had a pair of birds over my head and two
others calling just down the path. So I am curious, have others run into this?
Do Owlet Nightjars regularly get a wild hair and just have a mid-day yell?
On a related note, the White-throated nightjars that are overwintering have
started to vocalize with some vigor. I have a bird that I regularly flush from
a rocky ridge line and for the past two weeks it has been calling just at dusk
for 5 to 10 minutes. Last night it attracted some mates and 3 separate birds
calling and flying over the house.
Cheers,
Roger
Roger McNeill
Samford Valley, SE Qld
O - +61 (0)7 3034 3425
M - +61 (0)4 0056 7766
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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