Jungle Nightjar

The jungle nightjar is a nightjar of forest edges, 21–24cm long, mostly grey with black streaks on the crown, no conspicuous wing patch and a greyish tail with narrow, well-spaced black bars. The male has a white throat patch broken in the middle; the female's is rufous. Its usual call is a series of thacoo or chuck notes like a distant engine, and the song is a slow, regular series of notes that can continue for ten seconds. The East Asian grey nightjar was formerly included in this species (Wikipedia, general species account).

It becomes active at dusk, often over hilly grassland or scrub, and uses favourite prominent bare perches or rocks. By day it roosts in trees, lying lengthwise along a branch. The nest is a bare patch of ground where two eggs are laid, and both parents incubate them for about 16–17 days. SoIB 2023 treats it as endemic to the Indian subcontinent, resident in India with local movements, but gives no trend or priority for it (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).