
male Nightjar Ilheu da Praia, Graciosa May 2012 (photo:Joel Bried)
Up until spring 2012, there was a single record of European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus from the Azores - one at Ginetes, São Miguel on an unspecified date in 1953.
In spring 2012, the second Azorean record consisted of a bird seen at Vila Nova do Corvo, on 16th May and then two unfortunate individuals that were found dead by seabird researchers carrying out their daily duties on Ilheu da Praia, Graciosa - firstly a male on the night of 26th/27th May that was found dead in the same area the next day (Verónica Neves, Cristina Nava, Joël Bried, Pedro and Lurdes de Carvalho). The corpse was kept and then photographed by Joel Bried on 10th June.
A female was then found dead on 12th June (J. Bried, V. Neves, C. Nava), and the state of decomposition suggests that this bird died slightly later than the male.
Sincere thanks to Joel Bried for details and photographs of the Graciosa individuals.
In spring 2012, the second Azorean record consisted of a bird seen at Vila Nova do Corvo, on 16th May and then two unfortunate individuals that were found dead by seabird researchers carrying out their daily duties on Ilheu da Praia, Graciosa - firstly a male on the night of 26th/27th May that was found dead in the same area the next day (Verónica Neves, Cristina Nava, Joël Bried, Pedro and Lurdes de Carvalho). The corpse was kept and then photographed by Joel Bried on 10th June.
A female was then found dead on 12th June (J. Bried, V. Neves, C. Nava), and the state of decomposition suggests that this bird died slightly later than the male.
Sincere thanks to Joel Bried for details and photographs of the Graciosa individuals.