The food of the Afrotropical nightjars

Abstract

Jackson, H.D. 2000. The food of the Afrotrapical nightjars. Ostrich 71(3&4): 408-415. A synthesis of 722 published and unpublished records of nightjar stomach contents from Afrotropical specimens was undertaken. Coleoptera were found in 84.6% of the stomachs, often in substantial numbers, beetles providing these birds with their staple diet. Lepidoptera occurred in 34.9% of the stomachs and were often present in large numbers; moths are an extremely important part of the nightjar diet in the Afrotropics, especially during winter. Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Dictyoptera, although present in 24.7, 16.3 and 11.5% of the stomachs, respectively, usually occurred in rather small numbers. Hymenoptera and lsoptera were often present in great numbers, yet were found in only 10.4 and 10.1% of the stomachs, respectively, so a limited number of individual nightjars had found emerging swarms of alate ants or termites in season. Neuroptera, Diptera, Odonata and Dermaptera were found in a few stomachs (2.4, 1.2, 0.6 and 0.3%, respectively) but these insects clearly play a very small part in the diet of nightjars in the Afrotropics. Similarities and differences in diet between some closely related nightjar species are discussed. Grit was found in 16 stomachs only, so deliberate ingestion of stones to aid digestion is regarded as extremely unlikely among nightjars in the Afrotropics. The contents of a full stomach may account for as much as 20-25% of the body mass of a nightjar.