Abyssinian Nightjar

About the Abyssinian Nightjar

The montane nightjar (Caprimulgus poliocephalus), mountain nightjar or Abyssinian nightjar, is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is native to upland regions of Central and Eastern Africa where it is a locally common species.

The Montane nightjar was originally described by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell in 1840. He used the current binomial name Caprimulgus poliocephalus. There are four subspecies: C. p. poliocephalus Rüppell, 1840 – Ethiopia to north Tanzania, also southwest Saudi Arabia

C. p. ruwenzorii Ogilvie-Grant, 1909 – southwest Uganda, east Democratic Republic of the Congo C. p. guttifer Grote, 1921 – Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia C. p. koesteri Neumann, 1931 – central Angola The subspecies C. p. ruwenzorii was formerly sometimes treated as a separate species, the Ruwenzori nightjar. Although a molecular genetic study of these four nightjars has not been published, the results of the detailed measurement of museum specimens suggests that they should be considered as conspecific.

The montane nightjar is a rather dark nightjar growing to a length of about 23 cm (9.1 in). It has somewhat tawny, blackish or chocolate brown... Wikipedia →