Goatsucker or Nightjar!!! - YouTube Goatsucker or Nightjar!!! Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Oct 24, 2011 Medium sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds with short bills, short legs and long wings are known as Nightjars. They are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers as it is believed that they suck milk from goats. Nightjars generally reside on the ground. Viewer Roy Erling Wrånes points out that this is a Sykes's Nightjar (Caprimulgus mahrattensis). Thanks, Roy! Nightjars are found around the world. They are active during night or late evening or early morning. They feed on large flying insects like moths. This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia.

The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com. Category goatsucker - Memidex dictionary/thesaurus goatsucker Definition: a mainly crepuscular or nocturnal nonpasserine bird with mottled grayish-brown plumage and large eyes; feeds on insects Class: translation of Latin caprimulgus from capri, goat + mulgere, to milk: it was... (Source: New World Dictionary) [more] Definition references Wikipedia: Nightjar | Nightjars | goatsuckers | nighthawks medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds with long wings, short legs and very short bills. They are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers from the ancient folklore that they sucked milk from goats.

Some New World species are named as nighthawks. ... goatsucker | bull bat | chuck-will's-widow | Caprimulgus carolinensis [species] common name for nocturnal or crepuscular birds of the order Caprimulgiformes, which includes the frogmouth, the oilbird, potoos, and nightjars. ... (20 of 356 words) [Britain and certain other countries, synonym] any nocturnal bird of the family "Caprimulgidae", especially "Caprimulgus europaeus" (European nightjar): order "Caprimulgiformes". (14 of 253 words, pronunciation) Oxford Dictionary: nightjar | goatsucker a nocturnal insectivorous bird with grey-brown camouflaged plumage, large eyes and gape, and a distinctive call.; Family Caprimulgidae (the nightjar ... (20 of 69 words, pronunciation) Merriam-Webster: nightjar | goatsucker any of a family (Caprimulgidae) of medium-sized long-winged crepuscular or nocturnal birds (as the whip-poor-wills and nighthawks) having a short ...

(20 of 55 words, pronunciation) Goatsucker | Article about goatsucker by The Free Dictionary Goatsucker | Article about goatsucker by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . goatsucker, common name for nocturnal or crepuscular birds of the order Caprimulgiformes, which includes the frogmouth, the oilbird, potoos, and nightjars. Goatsuckers are medium in size and are found in the temperate and tropical zones of both hemispheres. The name goatsucker is based on an ancient belief that these birds fed on goats' milk by night, but their presence near such animals was no doubt due to the insects attracted by the goats. With their long, pointed wings, weak feet, and small, wide-gaping bills fringed with bristles, goatsuckers have been called flying insect traps. Like their relatives the owls, they are protected by brown, gray, and black coloring, and their lax and fluffy feathers render their flight almost noiseless. This and their monotonous, repetitious song are factors in their superstitious significance.

Their weird cries are reflected in the common names for many of the species, e.g., whippoorwill, chuck-will's-widow, poorwill, poor-me-one, potoo, and pauraque. The whippoorwill is common in the E United States. Ornithologists have discovered that the whippoorwill, unlike other birds, hibernates during the winter instead of migrating. Its body temperature drops from 102&degF; (39&degC;) to 65&degF; (18.3&degC;), its breathing slows, and its digestion ceases until spring brings the return of the insects that constitute its diet. The whippoorwill's flight, like that of the swift, is graceful and erratic; it sometimes swoops downward and then stops abruptly, producing a booming sound as it spreads its wings to brake. The larger (12 in./30 cm) chuck-will's-widow (Caprimulgus carolinensis) is found in the South and the poorwill (7 in./17.5 cm) in the West.

The nighthawk (Chordediles popetue), or bull bat, common in all parts of North America N to Labrador, is the most diurnal of the goatsuckers; it is active at twilight and daybreak, whereas the others fly only at night. The nighthawk's familiar cry is a nasal "peent." The oilbirds of South America have sonar devices that enable them to fly in total darkness. The pauraque, or cuiejo, is a Central American goatsucker, and the aptly named frogmouths are native to Australia and Asia. Goatsuckers are classified in the phylum Chordata Chordata , phylum of animals having a notochord, or dorsal stiffening rod, as the chief internal skeletal support at some stage of their development. Most chordates are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but the phylum also includes some small marine invertebrate animals. ..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Caprimulgiformes.

goatsucker US and Canadian any nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, esp Caprimulgus europaeus (European nightjar): order Caprimulgiform es. Goatsucker - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki Goatsucker: Wikis Advertisements Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the bird. For the aircraft, see Gloster Nightjar . "Goatsucker" redirects here. For the cryptid translated from Spanish as goat sucker, see Chupacabra . Nightjars Genera 14, see text. Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds with long wings, short legs and very short bills. They are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers from the mistaken belief that they suck milk from goats (the Latin for goatsucker is Caprimulgus). Some New World species are named as nighthawks. Nightjars usually nest on the ground. Nightjars are found around the world.

They are mostly active in the late evening and early morning or at night, and feed predominantly on moths and other large flying insects. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves. Some species, unusual for birds, perch along a branch, rather than across it. This helps to conceal them during the day. Bracken is their preferred habitat. The Common Poorwill , Phalaenoptilus nuttallii is unique as a bird that undergoes a form of hibernation, becoming torpid and with a much reduced body temperature for weeks or months, although other nightjars can enter a state of torpor for shorter periods. [1] Nightjars lay one or two patterned eggs directly onto bare ground. It has been suggested that nightjars will move their eggs and chicks from the nesting site in the event of danger by carrying them in their mouths. This suggestion has been repeated many times in ornithology books, but while this may accidentally happen, surveys of nightjar research have found very little evidence to support this idea.

[2] [3] Contents 4 External links Systematics Traditionally, nightjars have been divided into two subfamilies: the Caprimulginae , or typical nightjars with about 70 species, and the Chordeilinae , or nighthawks of the New World with about 9 species. The two groups are similar in most respects, but the typical nightjars have rictal bristles, longer bills, and softer plumage. In their pioneering DNA-DNA hybridisation work, Sibley and Ahlquist found that the genetic difference between the eared-nightjars and the typical nightjars was, in fact, greater than that between the typical nightjars and the nighthawks of the New World. Accordingly, they placed the eared-nightjars in a separate family : Eurostopodidae . Subsequent work, both morphological and genetic, has provided support for the separation of the typical and the eared-nightjars, and some authorities have adopted this Sibley-Ahlquist recommendation, and also the more far-reaching one to group all the owls (traditionally Strigiformes) together in the Caprimulgiformes .

The listing below retains a more orthodox arrangement, but recognises the eared-nightjars as a separate group. For more detail and an alternative classification scheme, see Caprimulgiformes and Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy . Genus Siphonorhis (2 living species) Genus Nyctiphrynus (4 species) Genus Caprimulgus (some 50-60 species, including the European Nightjar ) Genus Macrodipteryx - Long-primaried nightjars (2 species) Genus Hydropsalis (2 species) Also see a list of nightjars , sortable by common and binomial names. Gallery Pauraque References ^ Lane JE, Brigham RM, Swanson DL. (2004) "Daily torpor in free-ranging whip-poor-wills (Caprimulgus vociferus)." Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 77 (2):297-304 ^ Jackson, H.D.

(2007) " A review of the evidence for the translocation of eggs and young by nightjars (Caprimulgidae)" Ostrich - Journal of African Ornithology, 78 (3) 561-572 ^ Jackson, H.D. (1985) "Commentary and Observations on the Alleged Transportation of Eggs and Young by Caprimulgids". Wilson Bulletin 97 (3) 381-385 [1] External links Up to date as of January 14, 2010 From LoveToKnow 1911 GOATSUCKER, a bird from very ancient times absurdly believed to have the habit implied by the common name it bears in many European tongues besides English - as testified by the Gr. aiyoOi Xas, the Lat. caprimulgus, Ital. succiacapre, Span. chotacabras, Fr. tettechevre, and Ger. Zeigenmelker.

The common goatsucker (Caprimulgus europaeus, Linn.), is admittedly the type of a very peculiar and distinct family, Caprimulgidae, a group remarkable for the flat head, enormously wide mouth, large eyes, and soft, pencilled plumage of its members, which vary in size from a lark to a crow . Its position has been variously assigned by systematists. Though now judiciously removed from the Passeres, in which Linnaeus placed all the species known to him, Huxley considered it to form, with two other families - the swifts (Cypselidae) and humming-birds (Trochilidae) - the division Cypselomorphae of his larger group Aegithognathae, which is equivalent in the main to the Linnaean Passeres. There are two ways of regarding the Caprimulgidae- one including the genus Podargus and its allies, the other recognizing them as a distinct family, Podargidae.

As a matter of convenience we shall here comprehend these last in the Caprimulgidae, which will then contain two subfamilies, Caprimulginae and Podarginae; for what, according to older authors, constitutes a third, though represented only by Steatornis, the singular oil-bird, or guacharo , certainly seems to require separation as an independent family (see Guacharo ). Some of the differences between the Caprimulgidae and Podarginae have been pointed out by Sclater (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1866, p. 123), and are very obvious. In the former, the outer toes have four phalanges only, thus presenting a very uncommon character among birds, and the middle claws are pectinated; while in the latter the normal number of five phalanges is found, Common Goatsucker. and the claws are smooth, and other distinctions more recondite have also been indicated by him (tom. cit. p. 582).

The Caprimulginae may be further divided into those having the gape thickly beset by strong bristles, and those in which there are few such bristles or none - the former containing the genera Caprimulgus, Antrostomus, Nyctidromus and others, and the latter Podargus, Chordiles, Lyncornis and a few more. The common goatsucker of Europe (C. europaeus) arrives late in spring from its winter-retreat in Africa , and its presence is soon made known by its habit of chasing its prey , consisting chiefly of moths and cockchafers, in the evening- twilight . As the season advances the song of the cock, from its singularity, attracts attention amid all rural sounds. This song seems to be always uttered when the bird is at rest, though the contrary has been asserted, and is the continuous repetition of a single burring note, as of a thin lath fixed at one end and in a state of vibration at the other, and loud enough to reach in still weather a distance of half-a-mile or more.

On the wing, while toying with its mate , or performing its rapid evolutions round the trees where it finds its food, it has the habit of occasionally producing another and equally extraordinary sound , sudden and short, but somewhat resembling that made by swinging a thong in the air , though whether this noise proceeds from its mouth is not ascertained. In general its flight is silent, but at times when disturbed from its repose, its wings may be heard to smite together. The goatsucker, or, to use perhaps its commoner English name, nightjar,' passes the day in slumber, crouching on the ground or perching on a tree - in the latter case sitting not across the branch but lengthways, with its head lower than its body. In hot weather, however, its song may sometimes be heard by day and even at noontide, but it is then uttered, as it were, drowsily, and without the vigour that characterizes its crepuscular or nocturnal performance.

Towards evening the bird becomes active, and it seems to pursue its prey throughout the night uninterruptedly, or only occasionally pausing for a few seconds to alight on a bare spot - a pathway or road - and then resuming its career. It is one of the few birds that absolutely make no nest , but lays its pair of beautifully-marbled eggs on the ground, generally where the herbage is short, and often actually on the soil. So light is it that the act of brooding, even where there is some vegetable growth, produces no visible depression of the grass , moss or lichens on which the eggs rest, and the finest sand equally fails to exhibit a trace of the parental act. Yet scarcely any bird shows greater local attachment , and the precise site chosen one year is almost certain to be occupied the next. The young, covered when hatched with dark-spotted down, are not easily found, nor are they more easily discovered on becoming fledged, for their plumage almost entirely resembles that of the adults, being a mixture of reddish-brown, grey and black, blended and mottled in a manner that passes description.

They soon attain their full size and power of flight, and then take to the same manner of life as their parents. In autumn all leave their summer haunts for the south, but the exact time of their departure has hardly been ascertained. The habits of the nightjar, as thus described, seem to be more or less essentially those of the whole subfamily - the differences observable being apparently less than are found in other groups of birds of similar extent. A second species of goatsucker (C. ruficollis), which is somewhat larger, and has the neck distinctly marked with rufous, is a summer visitant to the south-western parts of Europe, and especially to Spain and Portugal . The occurrence of a single example of this bird at Killingworth, near Newcastle -on- Tyne , in October 1856, has been recorded by Mr Hancock ( Ibis , 1862, p. 39); but the season of its appearance argues the probability of its being but a casual straggler from its proper home. Many other species of Caprimulgus inhabit Africa, Asia and their islands, while one (C. macrurus) is found in Australia .

Very nearly allied to this genus is Antrostomus, an American group containing many species, of which the chuck-will's-widow (A. carolinensis) and the whip -poor-will (A. vociferus) of the eastern United States (the latter also reaching Canada) are familiar examples. Both these birds take their common name from the cry they utter, and their habits seem to be almost identical with those of the old world goatsuckers. Passing over some other forms which need not here be mentioned, the genus Nyctidromus, though consisting of only one species (N. albicollis) which inhabits Central and part of South America , requires remark, since it has tarsi of sufficient length to enable it to run swiftly on the ground, while the legs of most birds of the family are so short that they can Other English names of the bird are evejar, fern - owl , churn -owl and wheel -bird - the last from the bird's song resembling the noise made by a spinning -wheel in motion. make but a shuffling progress. Heleothreptes, with the unique form of wing possessed by the male, needs mention.

Notice must also be taken of two African species, referred by some ornithologists to as many genera (Macrodipteryx and Cosmetornis), though probably one genus would suffice for both. The males of each of them are characterized by the wonderful development of the ninth primary in either wing, which reaches in fully adult specimens the extraordinary length of 17 in. or more. The former of these birds, the Caprimulgus macrodipterus of Adam Afzelius , is considered to belong to the west coast of Africa, and the shaft of the elongated remiges is bare for the greater part of its length, retaining the web , in a spatulate form, only near the tip. The latter, to which the specific name of vexillarius was given by John Gould, has been found on the east coast of that continent, and is reported to have occurred in Madagascar and Socotra. In this the remigial streamers do not lose their barbs, and as a few of the next quills are also to some extent elongated, the bird, when flying, is said to look as though it had four wings.

Specimens of both are rare in collections, and no traveller seems to have had the opportunity of studying the habits of either so as to suggest a reason for this marvellous sexual development. The second group of Caprimulginae, those which are but poorly or not at all furnished with rictal bristles, contains about five genera, of which we may particularize Lyncornis of the old world and Chordiles of the new. The species of the former are remarkable for the tuft of feathers which springs from each side of the head, above and behind the ears, so as to give the bird an appearance like some of the "horned" owls - those of the genus Scops, for example; and remarkable as it is to find certain forms of two families, so distinct as are the Strigidae and the Capriy nulgidae, resembling each other in this singular external feature, it is yet more remarkable to note that in some groups of the latter, as in some of the former, a very curious kind of dimorphism takes place. In either case this has been frequently asserted to be sexual, but on that point doubt may fairly be entertained.

Certain it is that in some groups of goatsuckers, as in some groups of owls, individuals of the same species are found in plumage of two entirely different hues - rufous and grey. The only explanation as yet offered of this fact is that the difference is sexual, but evidence to that effect is conflicting. It must not, however, be supposed that this common feature, any more than that of the existence of tufted forms in each group, indicates any close relationship between them. The resemblances may be due to the same causes, concerning which future observers may possibly enlighten us, but at present we must regard them as analogies, not homologies. The species of Lyncornis inhabit the Malay Archipelago , one, however, occurring also in China . Of Chordiles the best-known species is the night- hawk of North America (C. virginianus or C. popetue), which has a wide range from Canada to Brazil . Others are found in the Antilles and in South America . The general habits of all these birds agree with those of the typical goatsuckers.

We have next to consider the birds forming the genus Podargus and those allied to it, whether they be regarded as a distinct family, or as a subfamily of Caprimulgidae. As above stated, they have feet constructed as those of birds normally are, and their sternum seems to present the constant though comparatively trivial difference of having its posterior margin elongated into two pairs of processes, while only one pair is found in the true goatsuckers. Podargus includes the bird (P. cuvieri) known from its cry as morepork to the Tasmanians, 2 and several other species, the number of which is doubtful, from Australia and New Guinea . They have comparatively powerful bills, and it would seem feed to some extent on fruits and berries, though they mainly subsist on insects, chiefly Cicadae and Phasmidae. They also differ from the true goatsuckers in having the outer toes partially reversible, and they build a flat nest on the horizontal branch of a tree for the reception of their eggs, which are of a spotless white.

Apparently allied to Podargus, but differing 2 In New Zealand , however, this name is given to an owl (Sceloglaux novae-zelandiae). among other respects in its mode of nidification , is Aegotheles, which belongs also to the Australian sub-region; and farther to the northward, extending throughout the Malay Archipelago and into India , comes Batrachostomus, wherein we again meet with species having aural tufts somewhat like Lyncornis. The Podarginae are thought by some to be represented in the new world by the genus Nyctibius, of which several species occur from the Antilles and Central America to Brazil. Finally, it may be stated that none of the Caprimulgidae seem to occur in Polynesia or in New Zealand , though there is scarcely any other part of the world suited to their habits in which members of the family are not found. (A. N.) Goatsucker - Encyclopedia Goatsucker GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES GOATSUCKER, a bird from very ancient times absurdly believed to have the habit implied by the common name it bears in many European tongues besides English - as testified by the Gr.

aiyoOi Xas, the Lat. caprimulgus, Ital. succiacapre, Span. chotacabras, Fr. tettechevre, and Ger. Zeigenmelker. The common goatsucker (Caprimulgus europaeus, Linn.), is admittedly the type of a very peculiar and distinct family, Caprimulgidae, a group remarkable for the flat head, enormously wide mouth, large eyes, and soft, pencilled plumage of its members, which vary in size from a lark to a crow. Its position has been variously assigned by systematists. Though now judiciously removed from the Passeres, in which Linnaeus placed all the species known to him, Huxley considered it to form, with two other families - the swifts (Cypselidae) and humming-birds (Trochilidae) - the division Cypselomorphae of his larger group Aegithognathae, which is equivalent in the main to the Linnaean Passeres.

There are two ways of regarding the Caprimulgidae- one including the genus Podargus and its allies, the other recognizing them as a distinct family, Podargidae. As a matter of convenience we shall here comprehend these last in the Caprimulgidae, which will then contain two subfamilies, Caprimulginae and Podarginae; for what, according to older authors, constitutes a third, though represented only by Steatornis, the singular oil-bird, or guacharo, certainly seems to require separation as an independent family (see Guacharo). Some of the differences between the Caprimulgidae and Podarginae have been pointed out by Sclater (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1866, p. 123), and are very obvious. In the former, the outer toes have four phalanges only, thus presenting a very uncommon character among birds, and the middle claws are pectinated; while in the latter the normal number of five phalanges is found, Common Goatsucker. and the claws are smooth, and other distinctions more recondite have also been indicated by him (tom. cit. p. 582).

The Caprimulginae may be further divided into those having the gape thickly beset by strong bristles, and those in which there are few such bristles or none - the former containing the genera Caprimulgus, Antrostomus, Nyctidromus and others, and the latter Podargus, Chordiles, Lyncornis and a few more. The common goatsucker of Europe (C. europaeus) arrives late in spring from its winter-retreat in Africa, and its presence is soon made known by its habit of chasing its prey, consisting chiefly of moths and cockchafers, in the evening-twilight. As the season advances the song of the cock, from its singularity, attracts attention amid all rural sounds. This song seems to be always uttered when the bird is at rest, though the contrary has been asserted, and is the continuous repetition of a single burring note, as of a thin lath fixed at one end and in a state of vibration at the other, and loud enough to reach in still weather a distance of half-a-mile or more.

On the wing, while toying with its mate, or performing its rapid evolutions round the trees where it finds its food, it has the habit of occasionally producing another and equally extraordinary sound, sudden and short, but somewhat resembling that made by swinging a thong in the air, though whether this noise proceeds from its mouth is not ascertained. In general its flight is silent, but at times when disturbed from its repose, its wings may be heard to smite together. The goatsucker, or, to use perhaps its commoner English name, nightjar,' passes the day in slumber, crouching on the ground or perching on a tree - in the latter case sitting not across the branch but lengthways, with its head lower than its body. In hot weather, however, its song may sometimes be heard by day and even at noontide, but it is then uttered, as it were, drowsily, and without the vigour that characterizes its crepuscular or nocturnal performance.

Towards evening the bird becomes active, and it seems to pursue its prey throughout the night uninterruptedly, or only occasionally pausing for a few seconds to alight on a bare spot - a pathway or road - and then resuming its career. It is one of the few birds that absolutely make no nest, but lays its pair of beautifully-marbled eggs on the ground, generally where the herbage is short, and often actually on the soil. So light is it that the act of brooding, even where there is some vegetable growth, produces no visible depression of the grass, moss or lichens on which the eggs rest, and the finest sand equally fails to exhibit a trace of the parental act. Yet scarcely any bird shows greater local attachment, and the precise site chosen one year is almost certain to be occupied the next. The young, covered when hatched with dark-spotted down, are not easily found, nor are they more easily discovered on becoming fledged, for their plumage almost entirely resembles that of the adults, being a mixture of reddish-brown, grey and black, blended and mottled in a manner that passes description.

They soon attain their full size and power of flight, and then take to the same manner of life as their parents. In autumn all leave their summer haunts for the south, but the exact time of their departure has hardly been ascertained. The habits of the nightjar, as thus described, seem to be more or less essentially those of the whole subfamily - the differences observable being apparently less than are found in other groups of birds of similar extent. A second species of goatsucker (C. ruficollis), which is somewhat larger, and has the neck distinctly marked with rufous, is a summer visitant to the south-western parts of Europe, and especially to Spain and Portugal. The occurrence of a single example of this bird at Killingworth, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, in October 1856, has been recorded by Mr Hancock (Ibis, 1862, p. 39); but the season of its appearance argues the probability of its being but a casual straggler from its proper home. Many other species of Caprimulgus inhabit Africa, Asia and their islands, while one (C. macrurus) is found in Australia.

Very nearly allied to this genus is Antrostomus, an American group containing many species, of which the chuck-will's-widow (A. carolinensis) and the whip-poor-will (A. vociferus) of the eastern United States (the latter also reaching Canada) are familiar examples. Both these birds take their common name from the cry they utter, and their habits seem to be almost identical with those of the old world goatsuckers. Passing over some other forms which need not here be mentioned, the genus Nyctidromus, though consisting of only one species (N. albicollis) which inhabits Central and part of South America, requires remark, since it has tarsi of sufficient length to enable it to run swiftly on the ground, while the legs of most birds of the family are so short that they can Other English names of the bird are evejar, fern-owl, churn-owl and wheel-bird - the last from the bird's song resembling the noise made by a spinning-wheel in motion. make but a shuffling progress. Heleothreptes, with the unique form of wing possessed by the male, needs mention.

Notice must also be taken of two African species, referred by some ornithologists to as many genera (Macrodipteryx and Cosmetornis), though probably one genus would suffice for both. The males of each of them are characterized by the wonderful development of the ninth primary in either wing, which reaches in fully adult specimens the extraordinary length of 17 in. or more. The former of these birds, the Caprimulgus macrodipterus of Adam Afzelius, is considered to belong to the west coast of Africa, and the shaft of the elongated remiges is bare for the greater part of its length, retaining the web, in a spatulate form, only near the tip. The latter, to which the specific name of vexillarius was given by John Gould, has been found on the east coast of that continent, and is reported to have occurred in Madagascar and Socotra. In this the remigial streamers do not lose their barbs, and as a few of the next quills are also to some extent elongated, the bird, when flying, is said to look as though it had four wings.

Specimens of both are rare in collections, and no traveller seems to have had the opportunity of studying the habits of either so as to suggest a reason for this marvellous sexual development. The second group of Caprimulginae, those which are but poorly or not at all furnished with rictal bristles, contains about five genera, of which we may particularize Lyncornis of the old world and Chordiles of the new. The species of the former are remarkable for the tuft of feathers which springs from each side of the head, above and behind the ears, so as to give the bird an appearance like some of the "horned" owls - those of the genus Scops, for example; and remarkable as it is to find certain forms of two families, so distinct as are the Strigidae and the Capriy nulgidae, resembling each other in this singular external feature, it is yet more remarkable to note that in some groups of the latter, as in some of the former, a very curious kind of dimorphism takes place. In either case this has been frequently asserted to be sexual, but on that point doubt may fairly be entertained.

Certain it is that in some groups of goatsuckers, as in some groups of owls, individuals of the same species are found in plumage of two entirely different hues - rufous and grey. The only explanation as yet offered of this fact is that the difference is sexual, but evidence to that effect is conflicting. It must not, however, be supposed that this common feature, any more than that of the existence of tufted forms in each group, indicates any close relationship between them. The resemblances may be due to the same causes, concerning which future observers may possibly enlighten us, but at present we must regard them as analogies, not homologies. The species of Lyncornis inhabit the Malay Archipelago, one, however, occurring also in China. Of Chordiles the best-known species is the night-hawk of North America (C. virginianus or C. popetue), which has a wide range from Canada to Brazil. Others are found in the Antilles and in South America. The general habits of all these birds agree with those of the typical goatsuckers.

We have next to consider the birds forming the genus Podargus and those allied to it, whether they be regarded as a distinct family, or as a subfamily of Caprimulgidae. As above stated, they have feet constructed as those of birds normally are, and their sternum seems to present the constant though comparatively trivial difference of having its posterior margin elongated into two pairs of processes, while only one pair is found in the true goatsuckers. Podargus includes the bird (P. cuvieri) known from its cry as morepork to the Tasmanians, 2 and several other species, the number of which is doubtful, from Australia and New Guinea. They have comparatively powerful bills, and it would seem feed to some extent on fruits and berries, though they mainly subsist on insects, chiefly Cicadae and Phasmidae. They also differ from the true goatsuckers in having the outer toes partially reversible, and they build a flat nest on the horizontal branch of a tree for the reception of their eggs, which are of a spotless white.

Apparently allied to Podargus, but differing 2 In New Zealand, however, this name is given to an owl (Sceloglaux novae-zelandiae). among other respects in its mode of nidification, is Aegotheles, which belongs also to the Australian sub-region; and farther to the northward, extending throughout the Malay Archipelago and into India, comes Batrachostomus, wherein we again meet with species having aural tufts somewhat like Lyncornis. The Podarginae are thought by some to be represented in the new world by the genus Nyctibius, of which several species occur from the Antilles and Central America to Brazil. Finally, it may be stated that none of the Caprimulgidae seem to occur in Polynesia or in New Zealand, though there is scarcely any other part of the world suited to their habits in which members of the family are not found. (A. N.) - Please bookmark this page (add it to your favorites). - If you wish to link to this page, you can do so by referring to the URL address below this line. Copyright © 1995-2011 ITA all rights reserved.

Encyclopedia Alphabetically Nightjars | Legendary Dartmoor Tim Sandles March 24, 2016 Flora And Fauna Leave a comment 689 Views ‘Better than many more melodious singers, I love the monotonous music of the goatsucker. He has but two notes, and after sustaining the higher for thirty seconds or more, drops half a tone upon the lower and so concludes his burst of song. He loves the twilight, for his great eyes hardly endure full day, and he haunts the stony places in the open scrub at forest edge. His long-drawn purr, rising and falling and throbbing through the dusk of June, is precious in itself, and also because it wakens remembered vigils with lonely dingles in the gloaming, with still pools wherein stars were mirrored, and with the faces of grey stone-heaps fading into darkness.’ (Phillpotts, 1919, p.6). If you are really lucky when walking near any of the central plantations (Fernworthy, Bellever or Soussons) of a summer evening you may still hear the strange whirring call of the goatsucker.

Its official name is Caprimulgus europaeus, (Caprimulgus is Latin for Goatsucker – Caper = goat, Mulego = to milk) but the bird’s other name is – the Nightjar. In ancient folklore it was believed that the nightjar would suck the milk from goats’ teats, hence the name – goatsucker. Needless to say there is no grain of truth in the suggestion that nightjars suck the milk of goats or any other lactating animal as is prosaically noted below: ‘The harmless, unoffending Goatsucker, from the time of Aristotle down to the present day, has been in disgrace with man. Father has handed down to son, and author to author, that this nocturnal thief subsists by milking the flocks. Poor injured little bird of night, how sadly hast thou suffered, and how foul a stain has inattention to facts put upon thy character! Thou hast never robbed man of any part of his property nor deprives the kid a drop of milk.’, (Waterton, 1826, p.324).

It is thought that the reason the bird has been accused of sucking milk is that it will often lie on the ground amongst cattle, sheep and the like and await a feast of insects that will be drawn to the animals. It may well have been that someone once observed the goatsucker taking a fly off a goat’s teat and simply assumed it was after the milk. It has also been accused of causing a disease in young calves once known as puckeridge, this being contracted by means of the bird pecking at the animals, Another name that the goatsucker goes by is the ‘Fern Owl’, this is due to the fact that it does look something like a small owl and can be frequently be seen flying amongst the ferns at night. Alternatively you can occasionally hear the goatsucker referred to as a ‘Churn Owl’. One distinctive trait of the goatsucker is that when perching on a branch or log it will sit horizontally along its length as opposed to crosswise, with there head facing downwards, possibly this is to enhance its very effective camouflaging plumage. The bird arrives from Africa around the end of April/beginning of May and has usually departed by late August, early September although there have been reports of them over-wintering.

As suggested by Phillpotts the favourite habitat of the goatsucker is on the forest edges and over heath, scrub and moor. The goatsucker nests on the ground where it will usually lay two eggs, (sometimes twice in a year), thanks to its plumage it remains well hidden whilst on the nesting platform. The feathers perfectly imitate tree bark which when roosting during the daytime make it very hard to spot but being nocturnal it is at dusk when the bird is most active. However its activities are not just confined to nightime as being crepuscular it can also be seen at dawn. The goatsuckers diet consists of large insects, ie. moths and beetles, which predominantly it will catch in flight, this is simply done by flying with mouth agape and simply hoovering up any passing insects. Unless you are particularly lucky the only evidence of a goatsucker is its rather mechanical ‘churring’ song. On the rare occasions when I have heard it the sound reminded me of a demented woodpecker continually drilling on a tree. On Dartmoor the goatsucker population does tend to fluctuate, this may well be due to the age and density of its woodland habitat.

When the conifer plantations were first established there was an increase in the bird numbers but as the trees grew and the undergrowth thickened their numbers dropped. This was probably due to the fact that the goatsuckers preferred habitat is that of sparse undergrowth not dense brash. As the ‘Devon Biodiversity Plan’ notes: ‘Nightjars are essentially heathland birds, requiring low, sparse vegetation in which to nest, and also find the heath-like conditions that arise in conifer plantations shortly after they have been clear-felled and replanted a very suitable habitat.’ This decline continued until the 1980s after which there was a steady increase in numbers which coincided with the gradual clearing of the plantations. Today the goatsucker can be heard around Fernworthy, Bellever, Soussons, and Yarner woods to name but some of the locations, (Smaldon, 2005, pp. 120 – 121). Hopefully as more and more of the plantations are felled the numbers will increase further thus providing an eerie end to a days moorland ramble. Phillpotts, E. 1919.

A Shadow Passes, New York, The Macmillan Company. Smaldon, R. 2005. The Birds of Dartmoor, Falmouth: Isabelline Books. Waterton, C. 1826. The Quarterly Review, London: John Murray. Goatsucker 1902 Encyclopedia > Goatsucker Goatsucker GOATSUCKER, a bird from very ancient times absurdly believed to have the habit implied by the common name it bears in many European tongues besides our own-as testified by the Greek Alyo6r)\a<;, the Latin Capri-mulgus, Italian Succiacapre, Spanish Chotacabras, French Tettechèvre, and German Ziegenmelker. The common Goatsucker (Caprirnulgus europceus, Linn.), is admittedly the type of a very peculiar and distinct Family Caprimul-gidce, a group remarkable for the flat head, enormously wide mouth, large eyes, and soft, pencilled plumage of its members, which vary in size from a Lark to a Crow. Its position has been variously assigned by systematists.

Though of late years judiciously removed from the Passeres, in which Linnajus placed all the species known to him, Professor Huxley considers it to form, with two other Familiesthe Swifts (Cypselidce) and Humming-birds (Trochilidce), the division Cypselomorphce of his larger group jEgithognathce, which is equivalent in the main to the Linnseau Passeres There are two ways of regarding the Caprimidgidceone including the genus Podargus and its allies, the other recognizing them as a distinct Family, Podargidce. As a matter of convenience we shall here comprehend these last in the Caprimidgidce, which will then contain two subfamilies, Caprimulgince and Podar-ginm ; for what, according to older authors, constitutes a third, though represented only by Sleatornis, the singular Common Goatsucker. Oil-bird, or Guacharo, certainly seems to require separation as an independent Family (see GUACHARO). Some of the differences between the Caprimulgince and Podargincs have been pointed out by Mr Sclater (Proc.

Zool. Soc, 1866, p. 123), and are very obvious. In the former, the outer toes have four phalanges only, thus presenting a very uncommon character among birds, and the middle claws are pectinated; while in the latter the normal number of five phalanges is found, and the claws are smooth, and other distinctions more recondite have also been indicated by him (loin, cit., p. 582). The Caprimulgince may be further divided into those having the gape thickly beset by strong bristles, and those in which there are few such bristles or nonethe former containing the genera Capri-mulgus, Antrostomus, Nyctidromus, and others, and the latter Podager, Chordiles, Lyncornis, and a few more. The common Goatsucker of Europe (C eurojiceus) arrives late in spring from its winter retreat in Africa, and its presence is soon made known to us by its habit of chasing its prey, consisting chiefly of moths and cockchafers, in the even-ing-twilight.

As the season advances the song of the cock, from its singularity, attracts attention amid all rural sounds. This song seems to be always uttered when the bird is at rest, though the contrary has been asserted, and is the con-tinuous repetition of a single burring note, as of a thin lath fixed at one end and in a state of vibration at the other, and loud enough to reach in still weather a distance of half-a-mile or more. On the wing, while toying with its mate, or performing its rapid evolutions round the trees where it finds its food, it has the habit of occasionally producing another and equally extraordinary sound, sudden and short, but somewhat resembling that made by swinging a thong in the air, though whether this noise proceeds from its mouth is not ascertained. In general its flight is silent, but at times when disturbed from its repose, its wings may be heard to smite together.

The Goatsucker, or, to use per-haps its commoner English name, Nightjar, passes the day in slumber, crouching on the ground or perching on a tree in the latter case sitting not across the branch but length-ways, with its head lower than its body. In hot weather, however, its song may sometimes be heard by day and even at noontide, but it is then uttered, as it were,, drowsily, and without the vigour that characterizes its crepuscular or nocturnal performance. Towards evening the bird becomes active, and it seems to pursue its prey throughout the night uninterruptedly, or only occasionally pausing for a few seconds to alight on a bare spota pathway or road and then resuming its career. It is one of the few birds that absolutely make no nest, but lays its pair of beautifully-marbled eggs on the ground, generally where the herbage is short, and often actually on the soil.

So light is it that the act of brooding, even where there is some vegetable growth, produces no visible depression of the grass, moss, or lichens on which the eggs rest, and the finest sand equally fails to exhibit a trace of the parental act. Yet scarcely any bird shows greater local attachment, and the precise site chosen one year is almost certain to be occupied the next. The young, covered when hatched with dark-spotted down, are not easily found, nor are they more easily discovered on becoming fledged, for their plumage almost entirely resembles that of the adults, being a mixture of reddish-brown, grey, and black, blended and mottled in a manner that passes description. They soon attain their full size and power of flight, and then take to the same manner of life as their parents. In autumn all leave their summer haunts for the south, but the exact time of their departure has hardly been ascertained. The habits of the Nightjar, as thus described, seem to be more or less essen-tially those of the whole Subfamilythe differences obser-vable being apparently less than are found in other groups of birds of similar extent. A second species of Goatsucker (C.

ruficollis), which is somewhat larger, and has the neck distinctly marked with rufous, is a summer visitant to the south-western parts of Europe, and especially to Spain and Portugal. The occur, rence of a single example of this bird at Killingworth, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, in October 1856, has been re-corded by Mr Hancock (Ibis, 1862, p. 39); but the season of its appearance argues the probability of its being but a casual straggler from its proper home. Many other species of Caprirnulgus inhabit Africa, Asia, and their islands, while one (C. macrurus) is found in Australia. Very nearly allied to this genus is Antrostonus, an American group containing many species, of which the Cbuck-wuTs-widow (A. carolinensis) and the Whip-poor-will (A. voci-ferus) of the eastern United States (the latter also reaching Canada) are familiar examples. Both these birds take their common name from the cry they utter, and their habits seem to be almost identical with those of the Old-World Goatsuckers.

Passing over some other forms which need not here be mentioned, the genus Nyctidromus, though consisting of only one species (E. albicollis) which inhabits Central and part of South America, requires re-mark, since it has tarsi of sufficient length to enable it to run swiftly on the ground, while the legs of most birds of the Family are so short that they can make but a shuffling progress. Beleothreptes, with the unique form of wing possessed by the male, needs mention. Notice must also be taken of two African species, referred by some ornithologists to as many genera (Macvodipteryx and Cos-metornis), though probably one genus would suffice for both. The males of each of them are characterized by the wonderful development of the ninth primary in either wing, which reaches in fully adult specimens the extraordinary length of 17 inches or more. The former of these birds, the C. macrodipterus of Afzelius, is considered to belong to the west coast of Africa, and the shaft of the elongated remiges is bare for the greater part of its length, retaining the web, in a spatulate form, only near the tip.

The latter, to which the specific name of vexillarius was given by Mr Gould, has been found, on the east coast of that continent, and is reported to have occurred in Madagascar and Socotra. In this the remigial streamers do not lose their barbs, and as a few of the next quills are also to some extent elongated, the bird, when flying, is said to look as though it had four wings. Specimens of both are rare in collections, and no traveller seems to have had the opportunity of studying the habits of either so as to suggest a reason for this marvellous sexual development. The second group of Caprimulgince, those which are but poorly or not at all furnished with rictal bristles, contains about five genera, of which there is here only room to par-ticularize Lyncornis of the Old World and Chordiles of the New.

The species of the former are remarkable for the tuft of feathers which springs from each side of the head, above and behind the ears, so as to give the bird an appear-ance like some of the " Horned " Owlsthose of the genus Scops, for example; and remarkable as it is to find certain forms of two Families, so distinct as are the Slrigidce and the Caprimulgidce, resembling each other in this singular external feature, it is yet more remarkable to note that in some groups of the latter, as in some of the former, a very curious kind of dimorphism takes place. In either case this has been frequently asserted to be sexual, but on that point doubt may fairly be entertained. Certain it is that in some groups of Goatsuckers, as in some groups of Owls, indivi-duals of the same species are found in plumage of two entirely different huesrufous and grey, Tbe only ex-planation as yet offered of this fact is that the difference is sexual, but, as just hinted, evidence to that effect is con-flicting.

It must not, however, be supposed that this com-mon feature, any more than that of the existence of tufted forms in each group, indicates any close relationship between them. The resemblances may be due to the same causes, concerning which future observers may possibly enlighten us, but at present we must regard them as analo-gies not homologies The species of Lyncornis inhabit the Malay Archipelago, one, however, occurring also in China. Of Chordiles the best known species is the Night-hawk of North America (C. virginianus or C. popetue), which has a wide range from Canada to Brazil. Others are found in the Antilles and in South America. The general habits of all these birds agree with those of the typical Goatsuckers. We have next to consider the birds forming the genus Podargus and those allied to it, whether they be regarded as a distinct Family, or as a Subfamily of Caprimulgidce.

As above stated, they have feet constructed as those of birds normally are, and their sternum seems to present the con-stant though comparatively trivial difference of having its posterior margin elongated into two pairs of processes, while only one pair is found in the true Goatsuckers. Podargus includes the bird (P. cuvleri) known from its cry as Morepork to Tasmanian colonists, and several other species, the number of which is doubtful, from Australia and New Guinea. They have comparatively powerful bills, and it would seem feed to some extent on fruits and berries, though they mainly subsist on insects, chiefly Cicadce and Phasmidce. They also differ from the true Goatsuckers in having the outer toes partially reversible, and they are said to build a flat nest on the horizontal branch of a tree for the reception of their eggs, which are of a spotless white.

Apparently allied to Podargus, but differing among other respects in its mode of nidification, is JEgotheles, which belongs also to the Australian Subregion ; and further to the northward, extending throughout the Malay Archipelago and into India, comes Batrachoslomus, wherein we again meet with species having aural tufts somewhat like Lyncornis. The Podargince are thought by some to be represented in the New World by the genus Nyclibius, of which several species occur from the Antilles and Central America to Brazil. Finally, it maybe stated that none of the Caprimulgidce seem to occur in Polynesia or in New Zealand, though there is scarcely any other part of the world suited to their habits in which members of the Family are not found, (A. N.) Search the Encyclopedia: Badass Nature: Camouflage Fish, Goatsucker Nature Videos Go Viral Badass Nature: Camouflage Fish, Goatsucker Nature Videos Go Viral May 7, 2015 0 comments Sometimes, nature is pretty amazing. In a new video gone viral, a fish is hiding out, virtually invisible on the ocean floor thanks to its pretty spot-on camouflaging.

The challenge, according to social media sharers, is to find the fish before it moves. Of course, sometimes nature is not just amazing, it is downright badass. In another nature-related video currently a hit on the internet, this screeching menace is apparently a bird. The bird, as it turns out, is a night jar and it has a reputation just about as cuddly as you might imagine from something that can be that scary in a few minutes of tape. According to the website Beauty of Birds , night jars are also known as “goatsuckers.” “They are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers, as they were often seen in fields together with goats and sheep, and the myth was born that they were there to suck milk from the teats of goats (the Latin word for goat-sucker or goat-milker is Caprimulgus),” the site explains. The nocturnal birds of prey are also connected to witchcraft and bug-eating.

When they are not showing off in terrifying videos, by the way, they look like this: Photo Credit: Common Pauraque/Night Jar via Screenshot Search Detail for nightjar - BeingSearch.com Being Search helps find more words for games such as Combination,Permutation,Scrabble and Word With Friends, nightjar.See more. Search Detail for nightjar 1 : A goatsucker, esp. the European species. See Illust. of Goatsucker. (1) words is found which contain nightjar in our database For nightjar word found data is following.... A goatsucker, esp. the European species. See Illust. of Goatsucker. This word nightjar uses (8) total characters with white space This word nightjar uses (8) total characters with white out space This word nightjar uses 8 unique characters: A G H I J N R T Number of all permutations npr for nightjar word is (40320) Number of all combination ncr for nightjar word is (40320) Similar matching soundex word for nightjar Ocellated From Wikipedia This article is about the family of birds. For the aircraft, see Gloster Nightjar.

For the cryptid sometimes called "goat sucker", see Chupacabra. Nightjar A common nighthawk in flight and a whip-poor-will resting on the ground Scientific classification Eurostopodinae (eared nightjars) Global range of nightjars and allies Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae, characterized by long wings, short legs and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tale that they sucked the milk from goats (the Latin for goatsucker is Caprimulgus). Some New World species are called nighthawks. Nightjars usually nest on the ground. The English word 'nightjar' originally referred to the European nightjar. Nightjars are found around the world. They are mostly active in the late evening and early morning or at night, and feed predominantly on moths and other large flying insects. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves. Some species, unusual for birds, perch along a branch, rather than across it. This helps to conceal them during the day.

The common poorwill, Phalaenoptilus nuttallii, is unique as a bird that undergoes a form of hibernation, becoming torpid and with a much reduced body temperature for weeks or months, although other nightjars can enter a state of torpor for shorter periods.[1] Nightjars lay one or two patterned eggs directly onto bare ground. It has been suggested that nightjars will move their eggs and chicks from the nesting site in the event of danger by carrying them in their mouths. This suggestion has been repeated many times in ornithology books, but while this may accidentally happen, surveys of nightjar research have found very little evidence to support this idea.[2][3] ^ Lane JE, Brigham RM, Swanson DL (2004). "Daily torpor in free-ranging whip-poor-wills (Caprimulgus vociferus)". Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 77 (2): 297–304. doi:10.1086/380210. PMID 15095249. ^ Jackson, H.D. (2007).

"A review of the evidence for the translocation of eggs and young by nightjars (Caprimulgidae)". Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology. 78 (3): 561–572. doi:10.2989/OSTRICH.2007.78.3.2.313. ^ Jackson, H.D. (1985). "Commentary and Observations on the Alleged Transportation of Eggs and Young by Caprimulgids" (PDF). Wilson Bulletin. 97 (3): 381–385.

Question: Which bird is sometimes referred to as the 'goatsucker'?
Answer: NIGHTJAR