Exploring Pigeon Valley: The European Nightjar

This is the 59th article in an ongoing series that highlights the riches of Pigeon Valley, the urban nature reserve in the heart of Glenwood. The focus of this article will be on the European Nightjar.

I walked the other day in the reserve towards the fence-line with the reservoir, often a good place for birds, when I heard something fly up from the ground. With a bit of familiarity, you get to know what to expect or not from the sounds and behaviour of different species. A bird flying up suddenly could be a Tambourine Dove, but that has a particular high-pitched whirr. I thought it could rather be a Nightjar. I had not seen one for some years, though the last I saw was a few metres away, and they do tend to return to exactly the same spot annually.

So, I was really pleased to get a message from Richard and Liz Thring, whose home is close the reservoir at Pigeon Valley, to say they had a European Nightjar on the branch of a tree next to a bedroom window. Nightjars are dreadfully difficult to distinguish, except for the European, which has a unique habit of perching along the branch instead of at right angles to it. This bird tolerated my taking a photo with a flash, though closed its eyelids a bit as a reaction to the intrusion.

ALSO READ: Exploring Pigeon Valley: The Yellow-billed Kite

This bird is thinly spread across South Africa; it is one of the migrants that breeds in the North and comes South for our summer. Habitat destruction and pesticides are impacting on the population in the North, and they are hunted as they pass over the Mediterranean. In March and April they leave southern Africa to head north again.

The grass of the reservoir is ideal; they like to hunt for insects at night over such fields or near lights that attract insects. At present there are great numbers of moths in Pigeon Valley that surge up as you walk; this bird would have no problem in stocking up for the long flight to the north.

Crispin Hemson chairs the Friends of Pigeon Valley, a group that undertakes clearing of alien plants, keeps records of bird and mammal sightings and alerts management to any problems.

The Friends have a monthly walk at 7.30am on the second Saturday of each month. Email: friendsofpigeonvalley1@gmail.com.

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