The golden nightjar (''Caprimulgus eximius'') is a species of

nightjar Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tal ...

in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

region in northern

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

Description

The golden nightjar is a distinctively coloured, smallish nightjar which measures 23–25 cm in length. When at rest the golden nightjar appears large headed and the upperparts and wing coverts are tawny buff marked with greyish-white, dark brown edged and speckled, square shaped spots. It has a large whitish patch on its throat, the upper breast is similarly marked to the upperparts but this fades towards the unmarked tawny-buff lower breast and belly. In flight it shows a large white spot towards the tips of the wings and in poor light it appears very pale. Both sexes are alike.

Voice

The Golden nightjar's song is low pitched churr which may last quite a long time and is delivered at dawn and dusk from the ground.

Distribution

The golden nightjar occurs from northern

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

and

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

in the west eastwards to

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. In 2015 a female golden nightjar was seen and it, or another, was later found dead in southern

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

and in 2016 a number of birds were noted in the same area suggesting that it may host a breeding population. In 2019, the breeding of the species in the area was confirmed. These were the first records of this species in the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

Habitat

The golden nightjar occurs in arid steppes and semi-desert, also on rock, gravelly or stony terrain with clumps of vegetation. It avoids dense scrub or woodland.

Habits

The golden nightjar is active at dawn and dusk and through the night, roosting on the ground during the day and tending to shuffle out of the way of approaching animals rather than flushing. It has been recorded feeding over waterbodies at dusk, its diet is made up of larger insects. The normal clutch is 2 eggs which lare laid on the ground, usually near a clump of vegetation. Egg laying has been recorded in April–May in the west and March–April in Sudan.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1264019 golden nightjar Birds of the Sahel golden nightjar Taxonomy articles created by Polbot