Donaldson Smith's nightjar is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania. It was named in honor of the 19th-century American explorer Arthur Donaldson Smith.
Region
Horn of Africa and East African drylands
Typical Environment
Occurs from eastern and southern Ethiopia through much of Somalia, into northern and eastern Kenya and locally in northeastern Tanzania. It favors open Acacia-Commiphora bushland, dry thorn-scrub, semi-desert plains, and stony washes and dry riverbeds. It avoids dense forest and high, moist montane zones, preferring sparsely vegetated, sandy or gravelly substrates. By day it roosts on the ground or low, shaded spots where its mottled plumage blends with leaf litter and stones.
Altitude Range
0–1700 m
Climate Zone
Arid
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Donaldson Smith's nightjar is a cryptic, ground-roosting night bird of arid East Africa, named for explorer Arthur Donaldson Smith. It is most active at dusk and night, when it hunts insects in open thorn-scrub and semi-desert. Males show white patches in the wings and tail during display flights, and the species often rests motionless on bare ground by day. Its camouflaged plumage makes it extremely difficult to spot unless it flushes at close range.
Temperament
solitary and territorial
Flight Pattern
buoyant, moth-like flight with short rapid wingbeats and brief glides
Social Behavior
Typically encountered singly or in pairs, roosting on bare ground by day. Courtship includes aerial displays with wing-clapping and showing white tail corners by the male. Nests are a simple scrape on the ground with 1–2 eggs; both adults share incubation and chick-rearing. Highly reliant on camouflage and remaining still to avoid detection.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
At dusk it gives a soft, rolling churr or purring trill delivered from the ground or low perch. Also utters sharp chucks and clucks in flight, with audible wing-claps during display. Vocalizations are repetitive and carry well in open scrub at night.
Plumage
Fine mottling of sandy-brown, grey, and rufous with darker barring; very cryptic and leaf-litter-like. Underparts barred; a pale buff nuchal collar can be evident. Male shows contrasting white patches in the wings and on the outer tail corners; female lacks prominent white and is more uniformly mottled.
Diet
Feeds almost entirely on flying insects such as moths, beetles, termites, and other night-flying arthropods. It hawks prey on the wing using a wide gape and bristles around the bill to funnel insects. It may also sally from the ground or low perches to intercept passing prey. Foraging often increases after rains when termites and other insects emerge.
Preferred Environment
Forages over open thorn-scrub, semi-desert flats, dry watercourses, and along tracks or lightly used roads. It sometimes hunts near lights around settlements or livestock enclosures that attract insects. Activity centers on open patches adjacent to low, scattered shrubs.
