nightjar

Camouflaged nocturnal bird

A nightjar is a nocturnal bird with mottled gray-brown plumage, a wide gaping mouth for catching insects in flight, and a distinctive churring call heard at dusk.

The name comes from the jarring sound of its song, which carries through the night.

Nightjars are found worldwide and are also called goatsuckers, from an old belief that they sucked milk from goats.

bird

whippoorwill

Nocturnal insectivorous American bird

chuck-will's-widow · oilbird · insectivore · migratory · plumage · wingspan · feathers · beak · roost · nest

nocturnal

crepuscular

Relating to dusk

gloaming · moonlight · darkness · nighttime · hawking · starlight · evening · dawn · low-light · silent flight

camouflage

cryptic

Obscure in meaning

disguised · undetected · unseen · ground-nesting · camouflaged · blending · stillness · freeze response

call

whirr

Continuous buzzing sound

eerie · haunting · evocative · onomatopoeic · distinctive · trilling · purring

Categories
Opposites
activity period

nightjarswallow

Send down the throat

swift · skylark · lark · robin · sparrow

feeding method/ecology

nightjarfinch

Small seed-eating songbird

sparrow · seedeater · hummingbird · woodpecker · raptor

bird taxonomy/type

nightjarowl

Nocturnal feathered predator

hummingbird · songbird · waterbird · raptor · seabird

Family

nightjars

Familiarity
Top 1,000,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Rated G