NOCMIG Nightjar and Water Rail

The nocturnal flight calls of migrating birds (Nocmig) has slowly started to gain a bit of momentum again as we start heading into early autumn. Of most note in recent days was a lovely Nightjar recorded at 03.26hrs on the 23rd July. Interestingly, despite having recorded almost continually since early April, it is the first Nightjar since my only other recordings from April 26th and 3rd May. It will be interesting to see if I record more birds and whether it is possible to work out if they are just local birds foraging or possibly early returning migrants. 

I was also pleased to obtain a very clear recording of a Water Rail recorded at 23.15hrs on 23rd July.  You can see my updated list of Garden Nocmig Species on the GARDEN NOCMIG tab at the top of the page.

Chris Townend · Nightjar.03.26hrs 23 July 2020

Chris Townend · Water Rail 23.15hrs 23 July 2020

Water Rail spectrogram showing the "trill" call and the typically arched shape