The truth about the ‘flying toad'

Odd local names and weird superstitions can’t hide the beauty and elegance of the nightjar, a species that has made a fascinating subject in a few zoo collections, reveals BILL NAYLOR

- Bill Naylor

FEW birds have been given as many country names as the European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) and probably only owls are surrounded with more superstition.

The bird’s generic name Caprimulgus means “goatsucker”, and that was once its common English name. Since ancient times, people have believed that nightjars drink milk from the udders of sleeping goats and cows, infecting them with disease. In Devon, the bird was known as the night swallow, whereas Lancastrians, referring to its wide gape, called it the flying toad.

The nightjar is a bird of the twilight, active mainly at sunset and sunrise, and only flying occasionally during the day. It spends the daylight hours on the ground, preferably in glades or on the edge of woodlands. Its ideal location is among bracken or camouflaged among the “furze” (gorse), hence the names furze owl and fern hawk.

When perched in a tree, a nightjar often positions itself lengthways on a stout branch, eyes half-closed, its small feet hidden and its plumage merging with the tree lichen and bark. This ability to camouflage themselves is similar to that of the nightjar’s relations, the frogmouths. It’s also no coincidence that nightjars have long wings, short beaks and wide gapes, like swifts, for they’re also related.