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.
This post updated on 12th October 2015.
Southern Boobook Owl
Cold Night
Late last Saturday evening we were travelling back from visiting relatives in Jamestown in the mid-north of South Australia. It had been a lovely autumn day, clear sky, lovely sunshine and no wind. As soon as the sun set, the air had a sudden chill, as if a frost was settling in for the night. We saw the full moon rising soon after sunset.
Night Driving Hazards
As we travelled past the pine forests south of Jamestown I was on the alert for kangaroos on the road. Nephew Steve had warned me before we left to be on the alert as he had killed four roos in recent years in that area. When travelling rural South Australia I am always on the lookout, usually for sheep that have strayed through fences on to the road. Kangaroos and, in some parts, wombats, are very dangerous hazards on our roads, especially at night.
Wombats
Fortunately I had hit very few kangaroos, probably about five, in all my years of driving in Australia. I have never hit a sheep or cow and I never want to hit a wombat. It would be like hitting a rock, I’d imagine. I came close to one crossing the road one night near Swan Reach. Scary!
Owl
Now back to the bird sighting last Saturday night. At first I thought there was a rabbit sitting on the side of the road. As it flew off into the darkness I realised my mistake. At first I thought it was a Barn Owl, but the markings were all wrong; it was too dark. It had to be a Southern Boobook Owl, one of Australia’s most widespread and best known owls.
Its “boo-book” call is a familiar nocturnal sound throughout rural Australia. It is even heard in built up regions where suitable habitat exists. I have only heard it on one occasion near our home in Murray Bridge despite it being resident in the area. We have heard it far more often in Clare near my daughter’s home. It is a species more often heard than seen.
Update: I’ve just recorded it for the second time in our garden. To read about it click here. The article includes a photo. Posted on 4th May 2010
Spotted Nightjar
Spotted Nightjar
Last week when we were travelling back from Geranium to Murray Bridge I observed a bird species I have not seen too many times in my birding life, a Spotted Nightjar. In fact, checking my birding database I had only ever only seen this species once before. That occasion was on my brother’s farm in the Murray Mallee near Loxton.
Spotlighting
We were out in the paddocks spotlighting for rabbits and foxes at the time and we flushed the bird from the grass. It was quite easy to identify it in the beam of the high powered spotlight. I was able to follow the bird as it flew away because I was operating the spot on that occasion. There have to be some benefits to getting frozen on a frosty night on the back of a farm ute.
Car headlights
On this occasion, however, we were travelling at about 95kph along the Mallee Highway heading home. It was a still, quiet evening after the storms and rain earlier in the day. The moon had not yet appeared. As we came around a bend in the road a Spotted Nightjar suddenly flew from the middle of the road through the car’s headlights and off into the scrub lining the highway. It may have even flown over the trees into the neighbouring paddocks – it was hard to tell because we only had a fleeting glimpse as it flew off.
Nightjars
Nightjars are nocturnal. There are three species found in Australia; the Spotted, the White-Throated and the Large-Tailed. They are closely related to another species, the Australian Owlet-Nightjar which we often see or hear at home. The Spotted Nightjar is common and widespread throughout mainland Australia. It lives in a wide range of habitats, not just the mallee area where we observed it. These include dry eucalypt woodlands, mulga, pine scrubs and grasslands.