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Owlet-nightjars are small nocturnal birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. Most are native to New Guinea, but some species extend to Australia, the Moluccas, and New Caledonia. A large, flightless species known as Megaegotheles novaesealandiae became extinct as a consequence of human coloniation of New Zealand.
They were thought to have originated in AustralasiaAustralasia is the area that includes Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the many smaller islands in the vicinity, most of which are the eastern part of Indonesia. The name was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres austr or Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia is a subregion of Asia. It includes all of the following territories: Brunei Cambodia East Timor Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar (Burma) Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Southeast Asia has an area of 1. 6 million sq miles (4,000,000 k, but the recent discovery of owlet-nightjar fossils in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. dating back to the OligoceneThe Oligocene epoch is a geologic period of time that extends from about 33. 7 million to 23. 8 million years before the present (BP). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified, but the exact dates of t suggests otherwise.
The relationship between the owlet-nightjars and other groups within the Caprimulgiformes has long been controversial and obscure and remains so today: in the 19th centuryAlternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical ( 18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801- 1900. Events The Little Ice Age ended they were regarded as a subfamily of the frogmouths, and they are still generally considered to be related to the frogmouths and/or the nightjars but there have also been recent suggestions that they are not so closely related to either as previously thought, and may merit subordinal status.
In form and habits, however, they are very similar to both groups— or, at first glance, to very small owls with huge eyes. Owlet-nightjars are nocturnal insectivores which hunt mostly in the air but sometimes on the ground; their soft plumage is a crypic mixture of browns and paler shades, they have fairly small, weak feet (but larger and stronger than those of a frogmouth or a nightjar), a tiny bill that opens extraordinarily wide, surrounded by prominent whiskers. The wings are short, with 10 primaries and about 11 secondaries; the tail long and rounded.