European Nightjar

• alimentaciónIts mouth is enormous for the size of its head, and it uses it as a net to catch flying insects on the wing at night.
• Its scientific name and its common name in several European languages come from an ancient myth that had it suckling from goats: Caprimulgus means literally "goat-milker", from capra and mulgere.
• Its song is a monotonous, continuous churring that recalls a car engine or a cat's purr.
• It perches along the branch, not across it as other birds do, which helps it go unnoticed by day.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Open, dry country with some trees and bushes: heathland, forest clearings, edges, scrub and cool dehesas. In Spain it occupies mainly the northern half and the mountains of the south (the Baetic and Penibaetic ranges), with recent records in the Guadalquivir valley and the south-east. It also breeds in the Balearics and, sparsely, in Ceuta

Birth weight

Semi-altricial: born covered in down and with its eyes open, but dependent

Size at birth

Semi-altricial: covered in cryptic down on hatching

Sexual maturity

12 months

Gestation / incubation

17-18 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

It is monogamous and may have two clutches, in mid to late spring and in July, in the slightest scrape on the ground and generally without adding any material to the nest

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; SEO/BirdLife (ficha y III Atlas); Asturnatura; MITECO; Sierra de Baza (ficha técnica); Monaco Nature Encyclopedia; Linnaeus 1758

Best time: At twilight in spring and summer, high in the sierras; it is a summer visitor in Spain