{"id":29349,"title":"Fables of the Fern Owl","description":"When I think about the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus), I have vague memories of walking across some heathland with a voice saying; \"that\u2019s a nightjar\".","content":"

\"i3fjmph28ivjlpdkobruj8foalibgs7xujkdqeaqsukqwo1k.jpeg.jpeg?w=1140&v=2\"When I think about the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus<\/em>), I have vague memories of walking across some heathland with a voice saying; \"that\u2019s a nightjar\". My memory can\u2019t quite place the person or year of the experience. I recall a flutter in the twilight, a nightjar, a bat? Memories of this bird seem to evoke a strangeness in me, I am not alone\u2026<\/p>

\"ulqhlm5qphjwkeoitrxgaqegjqsl85skgohfoooibfbprlme.jpg.jpg?w=1140&v=2\"There is a rich history of peculiar associations with this particular bird in the UK and beyond. Their call is odd, not quite bird like<\/u><\/a>, their fascinating folk names suggest myth and fable that is even richer than usual. The fern owl, moth hawk, corpse fowl and goat sucker, just some of the folk names that are used to describe this bird and their close relatives. There seems to have been some debate over the categorisation of these birds and their close relations, in 2021, the International Ornithological Congress<\/u><\/a> redefined the Caprimulgiformes as only applying to nightjars, with the slightly similar potoos, frogmouths, oilbirds, and owlet-nightjars all being reclassified into their own orders. Though the nightjars themselves have some amazing varieties including the pennent-winged nightjar shown below. <\/p>