10 Species of Frogmouth and Nightjars in India

Nightjars and Frogmouths are medium-sized nocturnal birds and also called as nighthawks. These two group of nocturnal birds are distributed in a variety of habitats and their primary source of food being insects.

Nightjars of India

Indian Nightjar (Caprimulgus asiaticus)

Indian nightjar is a small nightjar bird and only gets active with calls at dawn and dusk. This nightjar is small and short-tailed and found in open woodland, scrub, and cultivation.

Savanna Nightjar (Caprimulgus affinis)

Savanna nightjar is one of the 10 known nightjar birds of the Indian Subcontinent and the species is nocturnal like other Nightjars of India.

Jungle Nightjar (Caprimulgus indicus)

Jungle nightjarspecies is found mainly on the edge of forest in the Indian Subcontinent. Indian jungle nightjar populations also found along the Himalayas to Bhutan and Andamans.

Great-eared Nightjar (Lyncornis macrotis)

Great eared nightjar is found in South India and in parts of Southeast Asia. This species of nightjar is very large in size as compare to other species of nightjar from the family.

Andaman Nightjar (Caprimulgus andamanicus)

Andaman nightjar is the only species of nightjar found in the Andaman Islands and found in most of the islands of the Andamans and Narcondam Island as well.

Large-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus)

Large-tailed nightjar found along the Himalayan foothills and resident of the countries of India, Indonesia, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Gray Nightjar (Caprimulgus jotaka)

Gray Nightjar species is called as the subspecies of the jungle nightjar and only found in North East India.

Jerdon’s Nightjar (Caprimulgus atripennis)

Jerdon’s nightjar species is native to southern India and larger than the Indian nightjar.

Sykes’s Nightjar (Caprimulgus mahrattensis)

Sykes’s nightjar species found in Rann of Kutch and Banni Grasslands along with European Nightjar.

European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)

European Nightjar preferred habitat is dry land with some trees and small bushes, found in Rann of Kutch desert of Gujarat.

Frogmouths of India

Sri Lanka Frogmouth (Batrachostomus moniliger)

Sri Lanka frogmouth is a frogmouth bird found in the Western Ghats of south India and one of the nocturnal bird found in India like Nightjars. This species of frogmouth is only found in the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka.

Hodgson’s Frogmouth (Batrachostomus hodgsoni)

Hodgson’s frogmouth are also nocturnal bird and part of the same order as nightjars. This frogmouth is one of the smaller members of the family and found in Bhutan, India and Myanmar in Asia.

Blyth’s frogmouth (Batrachostomus affinis) is another species of frogmouth bird found in India, The tropical and subtropical forest ranges from India to Australia.