#aegotheles

[herpsandbirds]

Could we get some owlet nightjar love?

Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus), family Aegothelidae, order Aegotheliformes, found in various areas across Australia

These birds are not nightjars. The owlet-nightjars are not in the nightjar order Caprimulgiformes, but are in their own order.

They are not as closely related to nightjars or frogmouths, as previously thought.

photos:  Tropical Birding Tours & JJ Harrison

Vogelkop Owlet-Nightjar (Aegotheles affinis), family Aegothelidae, order Aegotheliformes, New Guinea

photograph by JJ Harrison

Mountain Owlet-Nightjar (Aegotheles albertisi), family Aegothelidae, order Aegotheliformes, found in the highlands of New Guinea

photograph by JJ Harrison

[scottpartridge]

The Karimui Owlet-Nightjar was introduced to Western science in 1964 by a Papuan who caught one by hand (#?!) and presented the specimen to famed researcher Jared Diamond.

No further records were made of this bird until it was photographed for the first time in 2016.

Formerly considered a subspecies of another Owlet-Nightjar, it is now listed by the IOC as it's own species, and has been added to the AVE (Avian Vector Encyclopedia).

[moonycore]

Image Description: two photos of australian owlet-nightjars, both standing on brown dirt. They are small birds with light colored undersides with mottled brown and grey wings and dark facial markings. Most distinctively they have large dark eyes and long, thin whisker-like feathers on their face. End description.

this thing is a rodent

[fullfrontalbirds]

Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus)

© Kel Grunsell

[drafthearse]

Australian owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus). Mount Hope, New South Wales, Australia.

[monkeyssalad-blog]

ser. 4, v. 5, pl. 2 by Biodiversity Heritage Library Via Flickr: 2day's #bhlpod is from our Bk of the Wk. Aegotheles savesi biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16251388 first described in Ibis' 1881 vol. Only 2 specimens known!

[autistrix]

[https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41109397] Feline Owlet-Nightjar || Aegotheles insignis Observed in Indonesia Least Concern in location of observation

[birdblues]

Australian Owlet-nightjar

[hello-birdies]

Aegotheles insignis by Nigel Voaden

[nightmare-birds]

Barred Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles bennettii)

© Carlos Bocos

[new-dinosaurs]

Aegotheles zealandivetus Worthy et al., 2022 (new species)

(Type tarsometatarsus [fused ankle and foot bones] of Aegotheles zealandivetus [scale bar = 10 mm], from Worthy et al., 2022)

Meaning of name: zealandivetus = [from] Zealandia [a mostly submerged continent that includes New Zealand] and old [in Latin]

Age: Miocene (Burdigalian–Langhian), between 15.9–18.7 million years ago

Where found: Bannockburn Formation, Otago, New Zealand

How much is known: Several partial limb bones. It is unknown whether any of these bones belonged to the same individuals, though it is unlikely that most of them were, given that they were largely found in separate fossil beds.

Notes: A. zealandivetus was an owlet-nightjar, a group of small nocturnal birds from Australasia. Despite their name, they are more closely related to swifts and hummingbirds than to true nightjars or to owls. A tarsometatarsus (fused ankle and foot bones) that likely belongs to A. zealandivetus was previously described in 2007, but was left unnamed at the time. (Note though that the type tarsometatarsus pictured above is a different specimen.)

Although owlet-nightjars are not found in New Zealand today, the islands once had a relatively large (thrush-sized), possibly flightless species, A. novazelandiae, which was driven to extinction in historical times. However, A. zealandivetus was more anatomically similar to the feline owlet-nightjar (A. insignis) from New Guinea and the Moluccan owlet-nightjar (A. crinifrons) than to A. novazelandiae. If A. zealandivetus was more closely related to these non-Zealandian species, this may suggest that owlet-nightjars dispersed to New Zealand multiple times in their evolutionary history.

Reference: Worthy, T.H., R.P. Scofield, S.W. Salisbury, S.J. Hand, V.L. De Pietri, and M. Archer. 2022. Two new neoavian taxa with contrasting palaeobiogeographical implications from the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna, New Zealand. Journal of Ornithology advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s10336-022-01981-6

[herpsandbirds]

Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus), family Aegothelidae, Mount Hope, New South Wales, Australia

photograph by JJ Harrison 

[squawkoverflow]

A new variant has been added!

Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus) © Ron Knight

It hatches from brown, large, long, and nocturnal eggs.

squawkoverflow - the ultimate bird collecting game          🥚 hatch    ❤️ collect     🤝 connect

[end0skeletal-undead]

Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus)

Colloquially known as the moth owl, the Australian owlet-nightjar is native to Australia and southern New Guinea. It is the most common nocturnal bird in Australia and feeds mainly on insects.

(Photos by David Cook, Nik Borrow, Steve Dew, and David Cook)

[fullfrontalbirds]

Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus)

© Kel Grunsell

[tealebritstra]

Cutest of the cute! An example of Australia's smallest nocturnal bird, the Australian Owlet Nightjar (Aegotheles chrisoptus), at Kumbartcho reserve in Brisbane, Australia. (at Kumbartcho Reserve Native Nursery)