Image by MANFRED SUTER, text by FAYE KNIGHT
March has quickly snuck up on us which means the bird of the month is here! The Pennant-Winged Nightjar, a jewel in the crown for SA birders, is the featured bird for the month of March in Birdlife’s calendar photographed by Manfred Suter.
- The pennant-winged nightjar acquires its name from the boldly patterned black and white wing and has greatly lengthened innermost primary flight feathers measuring from 50 to 70cm.
- These second primary feathers are dropped or broken off soon after breeding has taken place.
- The pennants are particular to the breeding males, while the non-breeding males are still distinctive in that large white patches are seen on their wings.
Unlike most nightjars, the females are very dull in colour and lack white colouring in both the wing and tail.
- This species of nightjar occurs from Nigeria to northern South Africa and is an intra-African migrant.
- Breeding season typically takes place from spring to early summer, south of the equator in moist savanna and broadleaved woodland areas, one of these being the miombo woodland which is a semi-deciduous forest found across Central and Southern Africa.
- During breeding season, males have separate display territories and attract passing females with an insect-like song. The pennants are a great advantage in courtship display. Males furthermore engage in display flights, low through woodland or at great height, wherein they may be joined by receptive females.
- Similar to the European Nightjars migratory patterns (which is explored more in this months African Birdlife magazine), egg-laying coincides with the full moon typically on the ground with leaf litter, a favoured location for nesting and roosting.
- Nightjars complete crepuscular feeding, meaning they active primarily during twilight (that is, the periods of dawn and dusk) and feed mainly on a variety of insects.
See the link here to read on how Manfred Suter achieved this shot in a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
