Red-necked nightjar nights

Red-necked nightjar (Caprimulgus ruficollis), scops owl, stone-curlew, eagle owl. Doñana pinewoods, Extremadura dehesa, Andalusian sierras, Spain.

Best time: 20 May – 10 Jul (May to July). Where: Doñana – El Acebuche / Matalascañas pinewoods, Monfragüe – Villarreal de San Carlos dehesa, Sierra de Andújar – Camino de la Lancha (Spain). Time of day: Knocking song from 20–30 min after sunset, strongest in the following 90 min, intermittent to about 02:00 and a second bout in the hour before sunrise.

• You can go on your own
• Free
• No binoculars needed
• Sound 5/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 20 May – 10 Jul. Late May to early July

Active from 1 May to 31 Aug (May to August) in a typical year.

Time of day

Knocking song from 20–30 min after sunset, strongest in the following 90 min, intermittent to about 02:00 and a second bout in the hour before sunrise; traffic on the A-483 dies after midnight.

• Dusk song: 20 min after sunset → 90 min after last light
• Dawn song: 75 min before sunrise → 10 min before sunrise

What will you hear?

The Iberian nightjar's knocking 'kutuk-kutuk-kutuk' — slower and woodier than the European nightjar's churr — from dozens of birds in stone-pine and dehesa, with scops owls and stone-curlews, and the birds sitting on the warm tracks in the headlights.

Binoculars?

No binoculars needed. Birds sit on the tracks in the headlights and knock from the pines; no optics, drive slowly.

Where to go

• Doñana – El Acebuche / Matalascañas pinewoods — Stone pines with high density; the A-483 traffic dies after midnight. Map
• Monfragüe – Villarreal de San Carlos dehesa — Nightjars on the park roads at dusk, eagle owls on the cliffs. Map
• Sierra de Andújar – Camino de la Lancha — Dehesa and scrub with very high density; lynx and deer at night. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Doñana pines: the A-483 verges and the forest tracks around El Acebuche and Matalascañas after dark. Monfragüe: the park road at Villarreal de San Carlos. Andújar: the Camino de la Lancha. All public; drive slowly, birds sit on the tracks.

Cost: Free.

Field-recording notes

Birds sit on tracks and are killed by cars — drive slowly and don't use them as light-bait. A static rig at a track junction in the pines from dusk to 2am gets 4–6 males. Warm, still nights; the song frequency is low enough (about 1 kHz) that wind masks it easily. Ground-nesting: stay on tracks.

Sources

• SEO/BirdLife – Chotacabras cuellirrojo

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