Birds of the World

New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi Scientific name definitions

David T. Holyoak and Christopher J. Sharpe
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated December 23, 2014

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Field Identification

28 cm. A rather nondescript, dark-plumaged species known from a single specimen, an adult male. Entire plumage, including wings and tail, brown with narrow greyish-white barring. Several published illustrations purporting to represent this species are based on A. cristatus and are therefore considerably inaccurate.

Systematics History

Affinities difficult to judge (only two specimens exist), but plumage pattern and broad tail feathers are at least suggestive that present species may be most closely related to A. cristatus and A. bennettii. Possibly intermediate between †A. novaezealandiae (apparently extinct since c. ad1200) and other members of family. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

S New Caledonia. Not found in recent extensive surveys of appropriate habitat (1).

Habitat

Recent record of bird in humid riverine forest at altitude of c. 1000 m; this individual was judged to be foraging in sub-canopy. Otherwise habitat apparently unknown; various comments in the literature are only speculation.

Movement

No information, but presumed to be sedentary.

Diet and Foraging

Label of type specimen states “Food Coleoptera”, doubtless on the ­basis of its gut contents. Recent record of bird thought to be foraging: the bird flew about, disppearing intermittently, at which times it was presumed to be perching.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Not described.

Breeding

No information.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Restricted-range species: present in New Caledonia EBA. Known only from two specimens, a probable sighting in 1998 and a handful of unconfirmed reports. Until recently, no definite records since 1880, when the type specimen was collected – a bird that flew in through an open window of a house in the village of Tongué at the foot of Mount Koghue, S New Caledonia (2). Species was thought possibly extinct (3), ­although the paucity of ornithological work in New Caledonia still allowed hope that it might survive. However, in Nov 1998 a single bird was seen in the Ni-Kouakoue Reserve, S New Caledonia; despite subsequent searches during 4-month study, no further sightings (4, 5). A second specimen, dated 1913 or 1915, came to light in 1999 (5) BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. . A report of one being killed during 1960s by a hunter in the Païta region, not far from the type locality, has remained unconfirmed. The only other evidence of the species existence is provided by fossil deposits from a Late Quaternary cave c.65 km NW of Nouméa, near Boulouparis (6, 5). Search efforts between 2002 and 2007, comprising c.500 person-days in the field, were fruitless; similarly 120 local interviews carried out between 2003 and 2006 produced no credible reports BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. . Lack of sightings at known sites, despite prolonged field effort, suggest that species is probably rare and / or local (4). Given the lack of knowledge of the bird's ecology, threats are difficult to determine. However, rats are known predators of hole-nesting birds in French Polynesia (7) and the ecologically similar Australian Owlet-nightjar A. cristatus  suffers high rates of nest predation by mammals (8); it therefore seems likely that A. savesi has declined through predation by introduced rats and possibly cats. Habitat loss through fire, mining and logging may also be factors. First considered Endangered in 1994, then uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2000 BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. . Further intensive field surveys should be conducted in order to determine the true conservation status of this species BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. .

 

Distribution of the New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar - Range Map
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Distribution of the New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar

Recommended Citation

Holyoak, D.T. and C. J. Sharpe (2020). New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles savesi), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.nconig1.01
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