Red-necked Nightjar

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Red-necked Nightjar in the UK

Red-necked Nightjar has a single British record. A male was shot at Killingworth, near Newcastle upon Tyne, on 5 October 1856, and the specimen is still held in the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle. With no record since 1950, the species sits in Category B of the British List. The record was questioned and re-examined in 2006 and was kept, with the bird confirmed as the Iberian race. It breeds in Spain, Portugal and north-west Africa and winters in West Africa. The only other northern European record is from Denmark in 1991.

Where and when to see a Red-necked Nightjar

You cannot expect to see one in Britain. One record in 170 years gives no pattern to work with. The nearest birds are in Spain and Portugal from May to August, in open pine and cork oak woodland, scrub and sandy heath. They are easiest at dusk, when they call and sit on quiet sandy tracks and roads. Any large nightjar in Britain that is not on a known Nightjar heath in summer deserves photographs and a sound recording.

Habitat, diet and field notes

Habitat: Scrub, pine woods (one old record).
Diet: Aerial insects.
Field note: Larger; rusty neck.

How to identify a Red-necked Nightjar

Larger than a Nightjar: about 32cm long with a wingspan around 64cm, and with a longer tail and bigger head. Plumage is the same dead-leaf mix of grey, brown and buff, but warmer in tone, with a rusty-buff collar around the back of the neck and a large white throat patch. Both sexes show white spots near the wing-tips and white corners to the tail, where only the male Nightjar does. Flight is slower and heavier. By day it sits still on the ground and is very hard to find.

Call and song

A loud, hollow, repeated 'kyok-kyok-kyok', like someone knocking on wood, kept up for long spells at dusk. It sounds nothing like the Nightjar's continuous churr. It has never been heard in Britain. Heard something you cannot place? Bird Hear identifies UK birds from a 10 second recording, free in your browser.

Confusion species

• Nightjar: Nightjar is smaller and greyer with no rusty collar, and only the male has white wing and tail spots.
• Egyptian Nightjar: Egyptian Nightjar is pale and sandy all over with little contrast and no obvious white in the tail.

Related guide Rare birds in the UK.

Conservation status and Birdedex points

In the Birdedex the Red-necked Nightjar is a Legendary tier bird, worth +50 points when you log one. It is not on the Red or Amber lists in Birds of Conservation Concern 5.

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• Egyptian NightjarLegendary · Open ground (very rare)
• NightjarUncommon · Heathland
• Siberian ThrushLegendary · Woods
• Acadian FlycatcherLegendary · Scrub (extreme vagrant)
• Alder FlycatcherLegendary · Scrub (extreme vagrant)
• American Yellow WarblerLegendary · Coastal scrub (vagrant)

Red-necked Nightjar: quick answers

Has a Red-necked Nightjar ever been seen in the UK?

Once, in 1856, and that bird was shot. No living Red-necked Nightjar has been watched by birders in Britain. It remains on the British List on the strength of the Northumberland specimen.

Where can I see a Red-necked Nightjar in the UK?

Nowhere. To see one, go to southern Spain or Portugal in late spring or summer and drive or walk quiet sandy tracks through open woodland at dusk.

What does a Red-necked Nightjar eat?

Moths, beetles and other night-flying insects, caught on the wing in its wide mouth. It hunts from dusk and often uses tracks and road surfaces as places to sit between flights.

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