Red-necked nightjar

    Caprimulgus ruficollis

Castilian: Chotacabras cuellirojo

Catalan: Siboc

Gallego: Avenoiteira papuda

Euskera: Zata lepagorria

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Caprimulgiformes

Family: Caprimulgidae

Migratory status: Summer resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category. In the 2004 edition of the Red Book of Spanish Birds (Libro Rojo de las Aves de España) it is listed as “Not Evaluated”.

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THREATS

The “attraction” that it feels to landing on motorways and roads cause it to frequently be run over by vehicles, which is in addition to the loss of nests due to weed burning and the transit of livestock and that of predators (rats, foxes, etc.). It is also important to mention the loss of habitat due to agricultural transformations and the decrease in food supply caused by the use of insecticides.

Length / size: 24-28 cm / 52-59 cm

Identification: Small or medium-sized bird whose mimetic plumage allows it to go unnoticed. It has a characteristic rust-coloured band like a collar that covers the throat and breast. Its wings and tail have white ocellae that are visible in flight and are more defined in males. It flies silenty, switching between deep flapping of its wings and glides while maintaining its wings in a "V" shape.

Song: It sings a loud song that is far-reaching and repetitive: "keeotok-keeotok".

Diet: It feeds primarily at night, catching moths and other flying invertebrates with its enormous oral cavity; it sometimes hunts grasshoppers and beetles on the ground.ltamontes o escarabajos.

Reproduction: There is not much information about its habits: it is known that breeding begins around May and that it nests in a depression in the ground, protected by shrubs.

HABITAT

It occupies areas that are open or thinly wooded, where farmland mixes with uncultivated land, small woods, scrubland, etc. It is not usually found above an altitude of 800 metres.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: It is distributed throughout the central, southern, and Levante regions, all the way up the the Ebro Valley.

In Castile and León: It is unevenly distributed throughout the western and northern regions of the community, with the largest concentrations found in Salamanca and southern Zamora and Valladolid.

Movements and migrations: Migratory species. Little is known about its migratory routes and wintering areas, although it is known that it crosses the Strait of Gibraltar between September and October, and that European birds winter in the south and southwest of their African breeding areas.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 130000 breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: There is an estimated population of 400-600 breeding pairs.