Australian Owlet-nightjar

Aegotheles cristatus

The Australian owlet-nightjar is a nocturnal bird found in open woodland across Australia and in southern New Guinea. It is the smallest nocturnal bird found in Australia, making it prone to predation. It is colloquially known as the moth owl or fairy owl and Jarlajirrpi by the Warlpiri people. It is the most common nocturnal bird in Australia. Despite suffering from predation and competition by introduced species, it is not considered threatened. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 59,296 times across 16 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Australian Owlet-nightjar on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 25°C (typically 17 to 31°C, from 7 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Oceania ranged from 27°S in September to 17°S in May, about 1,000 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.