The Great Eared Nightjar (Eurostopodus macrotis) is a species of nightjar

Nightjar

Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds with long wings, short legs and very short bills. They are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers from the mistaken belief that they suck milk from goats . Some New World species are named as nighthawks...

 in the Caprimulgidae family. It is likely the largest member of its near cosmopolitan family, although a few species, such as the Lyre-tailed Nightjar

Lyre-tailed Nightjar

The Lyre-tailed Nightjar is a species of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.-References:...

 and Swallow-tailed Nightjar

Swallow-tailed Nightjar

The Swallow-tailed Nightjar is a species of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family.It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland.-References:* BirdLife International...

 reach a longer total length thanks to their long tail streamers. It weighs up to 150 grams (5.5 oz) and measures 41 cm (16 in).

Distribution and habitat

It is found in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, Malaysia, Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

.
Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s.

Behaviour

Like other nightjars they are active at dusk and at night. They have a distinctive call which includes a sharp tsiik followed by a pause and a two-syllable ba-haaww.

Breeding

The nest is a scrape on the ground and the clutch consists of a single eggs. The chicks are well camouflaged among leaf litter.

Taxonomy

Several populations are given subspecies status and include:

• the nominate form macrotis (Vigors, 1831) from the Philippines
• bourdilloni (Hume
  Allan Octavian Hume
  Allan Octavian Hume was a civil servant, political reformer and amateur ornithologist in British India. He was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, a political party that was later to lead the Indian independence movement...
  
  , 1875) of the Western Ghats
  Western Ghats
  The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
  
  
• cerviniceps (Gould, 1838) along the eastern Himalayas into Indochina and northern Malaysia
• jacobsoni (Junge, 1936) of Simeulue Island
• macropterus (Bonaparte, 1850) from the islands of Sulawesi, Talaud, Sangihe, Banggai and Sula

External links

• Internet Bird Collection