Is this bird our rarest ever or just the best at camouflage?

IT’S difficult to be sure, of course, but the white-throated nightjar (pictured) may well be the rarest of all local species.

There are very few records of the bird, but that may be simply because it is a master of camouflage.

It is nocturnal, and spends the day on the ground where it is extraordinarily difficult to see. Its preferred habitats are the rocky areas in the Brisbane Ranges and the Anglesea Heath.

Charles Belcher, in his classic book about Geelong’s birds, lists only three occasions when it was found in the years up to 1914.

Perc Wood, whose Geelong Advertiser column ran from 1945-58, made scant reference to it. In the following years, as more observers began recording their bird-sightings, its local status became much clearer. During the 1960s and ’70s white-throated nightjars were seen in the Brisbane Ranges and in the eastern Otways. Perhaps the most intriguing came from the discovery at the You Yangs of an egg that may well have been that of a nightjar.

Now, of course, there is very little likelihood of the bird visiting that part of the region — there is just too much disturbance from cyclists and dog-walkers.

The white-throated nightjar makes no nest at all, simply laying a single black-spotted, off-white egg on the bare ground.

The fluffy, rusty-fawn young is beautifully camouflaged on the ground among pebbles and leaf-litter until, at about three weeks of age, it takes its first flight.

The white-throated nightjar and its close cousin the spotted nightjar are superb aerialists, soaring high above the tree canopy at night, hunting flying insects. By day they sleep on the ground.

They are probably migratory, leaving our region in autumn when flying insects become scarce.

The hazards they face while here are cats and foxes, and also the so-called fuelreduction fires that alter the nature of their habitat.

By removing the leaf-litter and fallen branches particularly in spring burns, the nightjars’ habitat is destroyed.

It is time we made a concerted effort to locate the places where the birds still live, and protect them.

Since they are nocturnal, they may be most easily located by the use of “playback” tapes at night, a technique that is used in the search for owls.

To my knowledge that hasn’t been tried in the Brisbane Ranges where the nightjars may still have a stronghold. Wildlife information and questions can be sent to pescott@gmail.com