The Australian Owlet-nightjar feeds at night by diving from perches and snatching insects from the air, ground or off trunks and branches, in the manner of a flycatcher.
A fossil proximal right tarsometatarsus (MNZ S42800) was found at the Manuherikia River in Otago, New Zealand.
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This, the caprimulgiform lineage(s), and the Apodiformes, are postulated to form a clade called Cypselomorphae, with the owlet-nightjars and the Apodiformes forming the clade Daedalornithes.
The Archaeotrogonidae actually seem to be Cypselomorphae and related to nightjars and hummingbirds, either as a basal lineage or as a distinct but entirely extinct family.
The Aegothelidae (owlet-nightjars) with about a dozen living species in one genus are apparently closer to the Apodiformes; these and the Caprimulgiformes are closely related, being grouped together as Cypselomorphae
This potoo is a large cypselomorph bird related to the nightjars and frogmouths, but like other potoos it lacks the bristles around the mouth found in the true nightjars.
The sounds are typically produced on warm mild evenings in early spring and they are similar to the song of the nightjar, Caprimulgus europeaeus.
The final Nighthawk variant was the Mars X or Nightjar naval fighter powered by a 230 hp Bentley B.R. 2.
Scarlett became notable for his excavations over many decades on several paleontological deposits on New Zealand like Te Aute, Lake Poukawa, or the Pyramid Valley swamp where he unearthed and described the fossil remains of a Late Quaternary avifauna including bones of the Eyles' Harrier (Circus eylesi), the New Zealand Owlet-nightjar, the Scarlett's Duck (which was named by Storrs L. Olson), and the Hodgens' Waterhen.
These include rare and threatened species, such as nightjar, linnet, viviparous lizard and green tiger beetle.