Jungle Nightjar vs Square-tailed Nightjar

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

Square-tailed Nightjar

Caprimulgus fossii

Small58 gForest

Voice: This bird's call is a prolonged churring, which alternates between a fast and slow pace roughly every second. As such it differs from the similar long-tailed and slender-tailed nightjars which produce fast and slow churrs respectively.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Finsch, Otto (1839-1917); Hartlaub, Gustav, (1814-1900) · Public domain

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