owlet-nightjar

English

Noun

owlet-nightjar (plural owlet-nightjars)

  1. Any of several species of small crepuscular birds comprising the order Aegotheliformes, of New Guinea, the Moluccas, and Australia. [from 19th c.]
    • 2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 6:
      The contemporary decline of birds – the owlette-nightjar, for example, and one species of duck – appears to support the presence of rats at that time.

References

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