Grey Nightjar    Caprimulgus jotaka

Etymology:

• Caprimulgus : Latin word capra – goat; mulgere –to milk . The nightjar were assumed to drink goats milk and injure the goats

• Jotaka : Japanese name Yotaka night hawk for Nightjar

• • Hazarae : Hazara Region, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan.

 

Vernacular names:   Hindi: Bhartiya Jungli Chapka, Dabchiri, Dabnak, Pun: Jangli nehrni, Bhil: Kapoo, Lepcha: Tamor, Naga: Wapatshai, Cachar: Dao chuk, Guj: Vana chhapo, Van dasharadhiyu, Te: Mobbu pitta, Ta: Padukai kuruvi, Mal: Ra chuckoo, Sinh: Bin bassa, Mar: Ranratwa

Distribution in India:

C.j.Hazarae – Resident in Eastern Himalayas and summer visitor in North Himalayas.

Description:  Size of 30-32 cm. They are sexually dimorphic. They are very dark, coarsely marked nightjar, blackish above with largely obscured pattern. The male has broad black splotches on central crown, rufous streaks on neck, broad black streaks on mantle, rufous-spotted black stripe on scapulars, rufous spotting on dark grey wing-coverts, rufous tertial tips, blackish primaries with paler tips and narrow white slash across outermost feathers, and uppertail-coverts and tail broadly barred black with white sub terminal band; broken white throat patch, white submoustachial streak, blackish breast spotted pale, rich buff belly with narrow barring, and heavier, straight bars on vent. Female has slightly warmer upperparts, bright rufous-buff throat patches and submoustachial streak, and even heavier barring on slightly darker vent.

Race hazarae differs from nominate  in being darker, warmer (more brownish) and smaller

Habitat : Found in breeding season in open scrub and heavily forested areas; from sea-level to 3400 m.

Food Habits: It eats moths, helipterums, flying ants, grasshoppers, locusts, cockroaches, small wasps, termites and other insects. Nightjars are most active, and mostly feed, near dawn and dusk (crepuscular – active during the twilight). At dusk, they often fly around livestock to feed on insects swarming around the animals. At night, they like to take advantage of insects swarming around street lamps or other artificial light sources. They are keeping their bills wide open as they fly through clouds of small insects. Nightjars may also forage under the canopy by flying from favoured perches catching insects at foliage. Larger insects are usually taken back to their favoured feeding perches. While holding the insects in their bills, nightjars keep the head upright, shake and swallow the prey whole, or they may break the insects apart before eating. Insects may also be taken from the ground or foliage.

Breeding Habits: Breeds in March-June in India.  The nest-site near or on rock, beneath vegetation, in thicket, on stony slope or in ravine; no nest, eggs laid on leaf litter, bare ground, or ashes following bush fires. It lays a clutch of 1-2 pale eggs , laid at 1–2-day intervals. The incubation period is 16-19 days, commenced with last egg done by female alone. The male sometimes taking turns close to dusk and dawn. The fledging happens in 17 days.