Rewards for a Night Patroling Naturalist

Night jar the Master of Camouflage............ Pic by Guruprasad B S 

Sangamesh is a budding Naturalist who has begun to register his observations. He is perceiving his graduation in Life Sciences in Yuvaraj's College in Mysore. This is his first piece on his observations of  urban wildlife in Mysore. We wish him a warm welcome and a long journey in the field of Natural History. 

-Picture and Text -Sangamesh Matad

A Night jar by night..... 

Chuk chuk tukaroo. Chuk chuk tukaroo!!!  The sound persists all through the evening around our house in the outskirts of Mysore. It was mainly regenerating scrub jungle all around that stood upon fallow lands. There were a few patches of grass that told the disuse of agricultural plots. Soon after dusk I hear this very prominent and common call. Me and Anirudh a friend in my neighborhood decided to find the source of the call. We were both interested in the activities of nocturnal wildlife around us. With my earlier experience I was able to confirm that it was a bird not any insect.

 One night we set out equipped with the best of torches and camera we could have. My friend was keen to photograph it. It was dark and we tiptoed towards the direction of the call. It was quite exciting to walk in the dark without the torch on. We went by the direction of the bird call. Every time we got close to the sound it used to come to a halt making it impossible to find the creature.

A pink pebble like egg on day one

All species active by night exhibit a special phenomenon. When a beam hits their eye their nictitating membrane glows, making it easy to find the animal. I used this technique to spot and found out that it was a bird. I held the flashlight close to my eyes; almost in line with my vision- there on the ground I saw a bright brick red fleck. Only the dot was visible, we had to move further closer. Our presence disturbed the bird and it flew away in the dark. After several attempts we were able to get close to the bird. We crawled inch by inch and with help of flashlight I could see the markings in the bird. Its unique sitting posture on the ground, black markings on the body and more than half a dozen whiskers on its moustachial stripe on the head region where clearly visible. After a few minutes it took a leap into air. As we were close enough we got a glimpse of the white patch on both its wings, in the primary region. It did not fly very far but just took a flit. All these actions confirmed me that it was an Indian Night jar (Caprimulgus asiaticus).

We patrolled the fields for a couple of weeks and gradually got used to move around in the dark and find the bird. Out of curiosity I added one more activity to my night patrol. I took stock of the locations that the bird frequented and stared to visit them at dawn. I could not get a clue about what exactly it was doing at night. There used to be anywhere between 5-10 locations we visited every night. The following morning I regularly went to inspect the spots. During my morning visits I used to see reed warbler(Acrocephalus arundinaceus), white backed munia (Lonchura malabarica), Indian robin(Saxicoloides fulicata), jungle babbler(Turdoides striatus), turtle dove(Streptopelia orientalis), ashy prenia(Prenia socialis ) and few more bush birds, very common to the area. As usual, I never found the night jar in daylight for many days.

One day I saw the same pattern of a bird flick off from the ground at a distance in the direction I was approaching. The flight pattern and the brown body with black patches made me sure that it was night jar. It was actually in the eucalyptus plantation of around 50-60 tress. I was very close to spot from where it took a leap. All I could see from where the bird took off was leaf litter and tiny twigs fallen of the tree. There was no appreciable grass. A healthy acacia sapling that must have been browsed by a passing goat sat there with its branches spreading out at ground level in every direction. I avoided going close because of its uninviting white thorns. I just stood staring at the sapling and suddenly saw a very fine pebble with smooth and polished texture standing out from the rest of the innumerable pebbles stewed all around. The pink pebble like object got my attention. On closer observation it showed pale reddish patches all over it. I walked further closer and was delighted to see an egg. Now, I wanted to find out if it was of dear Night jar. I was busy that day and couldn’t check it out immediately.

An additional egg the following day enhanced my joy and curiosity by two folds

 The next day morning I could not hold back my curiosity. The first thing I did was to walk away straight to the location. The bird sensed me from a distance and took a flick. Well my doubt was cleared now. The night jar was sitting on the egg to incubate. With the bird not being on the spot I went closer and was delighted to see another egg.

What I was unconvinced was that there was no nesting material as such under the eggs. Both the days I found the eggs on the ground. The place seemed a little bit cleaned and that’s all. As I had seen the bird incubating, I had to be very conscious in proving that it was the nest of the bird where it sat with its clutch. I’ve come across many incidents where the bird had abandoned its nest because of the handy work of photographers. Sometimes very little interference such as pruning of twigs for the requirement of photography or inserting a twig for providing a perch has become deterrent to the nesting birds. Some often clear the surroundings of the nest in order to get their desired picture. To them it is a simple drab looking leaf or twig almost dried if not dead.

A creature so perfectly adapted to live by deception. Thanks to its camouflaging colors .

They play a very important role in protecting hiding the nest from predators as well as giving it a mechanical support. As the nest was on the ground, the eggs where very close to the acacia sapling and the thorns on the plant gave an efficient protection.

 That acacia sapling adjacent eucalyptus tree was my reference. After two days when I visited the place, I was disappointed to see a small branch fallen on the sapling. I rushed to the spot as I was at a distance to check on the eggs. And I was surprised to see night jar there. It was so camouflaged that I thought it was a piece of wood. For a minute I thought that I was deceived by the bird and wondered how many others it would have. Of course it took no time for me to realize that the very its survival relies upon deceiving others. It’s been more than a week since I began these cautious visits to observe the nest. I’m waiting with eager to watch the arrival of the chicks. I am desperate to know what the night jar does with them and where will it take them to.

From all these days of observations, I’ve some questions to be answered by the night jar. I always used to see only one night jar upon the nest; I’ll assume it to be its mother. Where is the other partner gone? Doesn’t it show up and change over upon the duties of the parents? Or are they have been doing it and I haven’t observed it? How will they manage to protect the chicks once born?