Owlet-Nightjars | Miles To The Wild

The Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus) is a nocturnal bird found in open woodland across Australia and in southern New Guinea. It is colloquially known as “Moth Owl“. It is the most common of the owlet-nightjars, and the best known of this secretive family. It is the most common nocturnal bird in Australia, and despite suffering from predation and competition by introduced species it is not considered threatened.

Close-up from Wikipedia since I only got shots in the nest.

They have a huge range – basically all over Australia so you could get lucky enough to see them on any birding trip in Australia. The best thing is to ask the lodge owners or rangers at national parks if they know of a nesting pair. I saw them at Stirling Range Retreat. You can also try searching the species name on the Surfbirds trip reports if you are targeting this species. I wasn’t targeting them but just got lucky that they were found at a place I had already planned to visit and they were a delightful bird to watch as they peered cautiously out of the nest!