Further to the Owlet-nightjar thread, I think a lot depends on the areas
you spend your time in. During my first ten years of birding I didn't see a
single live Owlet-nightjar. However in the last few years I've lost count
of how many I've seen. In my experience they are much, much easier to find
in woodland and more arid areas than the forested coast and ranges. The
Capertee Valley (NSW) has to be one of the easiest places to find them and
they regularly hang around my cabin there. Further east in the Blue
Mountains I find that they particularly like
Scribbly Gum (E. sclerophylla) woodland as these trees tend to produce good
hollows of the right size.
As others have mentioned, once you know their calls you find that they
start popping up all over the place.
I don't think there is any one trick to actually seeing them. The various
ways I have seen them include:
- seen in the car headlights while driving on quiet roads;
- found with torchlight after hearing the call;
- flushing from hollows when I walked past (daytime);
- flushing from hollow after scratching the tree trunk (as someone
previously pointed out this is disruptive to the bird and best not done);
- seeing the face looking out of a hollow;
- while spotlighting, we once even had a bird following us and hawking in
the spotlight beam!
- nestlings in a nest-box under a carport in the Capertee Valley.
I've also had a stunned Owlet-nightjar brought to me by a friend who
accidentally hit it while driving. Fortunately it recovered and we released
it a few hours later, back where it came from.
For anyone who hasn't seen one, they are the cutest birds you can imagine -
like a fluffy toy with big round eyes! One of my favourite birds.
Cheers
Carol
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