Spotted Nightjar
Spotted Nightjar
Yesterday I visited the Pangarinda Arboretum at Wellington East. This arboretum is about 30km south of Murray Bridge South Australia (or about 90km SE of Adelaide). For the last four weeks a single Spotted Nightjar has been roosting in the one location within the arboretum. It has been observed close up by quite a few people in that time.
Yesterday we were able to approach to within 2 metres to take photos without disturbing the bird. It was amazing to observe the cryptic markings on the feathers making it very hard to see as it roosted in a little hollow it had made next to several tufts of grass. Several days ago one of the volunteers received a shock when he disturbed the bird while weeding around some of the plants growing there. The bird puffed itself up and hissed at him. He thought he was about to be attacked by some strange reptilian creature!
This is one species that I had dismissed as being able to get a good close up photo of. One should never say never.
Spotted Nightjar
Blog Entries
June 25th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
[…] My list could go on. One species I’d only had fleeting views of - and then only in the headlights of the car at speed at night - is the Spotted Nightjar. A few weeks ago I found (with some help from a friend) a single Spotted Nightjar roosting on the ground at the Pangarinda Arboretum (Click here for the full story). Now that I have the photo gallery up and running I can post one of many photos taken at the time. […]