Grey Nightjar vs Jungle Nightjar

Grey Nightjar

Caprimulgus jotaka

Medium92 gForest

The grey nightjar is a medium-sized nightjar with a large head, large eye, long tail, weak bill and short legs. The plumage is mottled, very similar to the Himalayas subspecies of jungle nightjar (C. indicus harzarae). The forehead, crown, and nape are covered with small, intricate grayish-white and dark brown vermiculated patterns mixed with black longitudinal streaks, with the central black stripe on the crown being particularly prominent. The feathers on the nape have pale brown spots at the tips. Voice: The vocalization of nightjars is an important aspect to distinguish them in field. The grey nightjar song is a series of hollow byuck notes lasting 2–4 seconds and repeated at short intervals, like the firing of a cartoon laser gun (click to hear).

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jason Thompson from Bangkok, Thailand · CC BY 2.0

Jungle Nightjar

Caprimulgus indicus

Medium92 gForest

The jungle nightjar is about 21–24 cm long with the Sri Lankan population (ssp. kelaarti) being smaller. Mostly grey with black streaks on the crown, it lacks a conspicuous wing patch which is rufous. The tail is greyish with well separated narrow black bars. The male has a white throat patch that is broken at the middle. The female has a rufous throat patch and submoustachial streaks. The usual call is a series of thacoo or chuck notes (at the rate of 5 every 2 seconds) like a distant engine. The song is a slow and regular, series of FWik-m notes, repeated for as long as 10 seconds.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Grey Nightjar and Jungle Nightjar.