Mumbai birders spot rare Sykes’s Nightjar in Pune district

A routine night trail near KumbhargaonBhigwan in Pune district turned into an exceptional discovery for three Mumbai birders who stumbled upon a rarely documented Sykesrsquos Nightjar mdash a species known for its elusive behaviour and low detectability in MaharashtraWildlife photographer Karan Solanki along with birders Shantanu Majumdar and Siddharth Jain was scanning a rocky plateau for the elusive reptile Leopard Gecko last week when the sighting happened While Karan and Siddharth checked one side of the plateau Shantanu surveyed the opposite endldquoA few minutes later Shantanu spotted a Nightjar sitting quietly in a small patch of grassrdquo said Solanki ldquoWhen we joined him he confirmed it was a rare Sykesrsquos Nightjar Since our cameras were in the car near the main road all three of us quickly clicked a record shot on our phonesrdquoShantanu sprinted back to fetch the gear and the trio returned to properly document the bird before leaving it undisturbedSolanki added ldquoAlthough this location falls within its wintering range Sykesrsquos Nightjar is rarely documented this far south in Maharashtra It can be distinguished from the similarlooking Savanna Nightjar by the absence of a scapular stripe more intricate plumage lighter colour and smaller compact sizerdquoDid you knowWildlife enthusiast Akshay Shinde had spotted the Sykesrsquos Nightjar at Bhandup pumping station in January 2019 marking the first confirmed sighting in Mumbai after 104 yearsThe Bombay Natural History Society BNHS collection has a specimen of the species that was collected in October 1915 from the Kalyan region after which the bird was not recorded in Mumbai until 2019The species mdash also known as Sindh Nightjar mdash is commonly found in Gujarat and Rajasthan and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red ListSykesrsquos Nightjar Caprimulgus mahrattensis is a summer visitor to southwest Afghanistan mostly resident in Pakistanrsquos Indus Valley and disperses widely into western India during winterDespite not being globally threatened the Sykesrsquos Nightjar is barely seen in India outside Gujarat and RajasthanJuly 2025 An unfit Sykesrsquos Nightjar was rescued in Mumbai and released back into the wild after recovery mdash a case that surprised the cityrsquos birding communityNightjars seen in Mumbaigtgt Jungle Nightjargtgt Jerdonrsquos Nightjargtgt Indian Nightjargtgt Savanna Nightjargtgt Subsequent sightingsgtgt A rescue near Mumbai Airport 2025gtgt A confirmed sighting from Manori Nov 2025gtgt According to eBird most records remain concentrated in northwestern Maharashtra with only one prior record in PuneHard to spotThe species is a migratory winter visitor Unlike the more common Indian Nightjar Sykesrsquos Nightjar is not vocal while migrating making detection difficultIts exceptional camouflage allows it to disappear into its habitatRecent sightings such as the one in Bhigwan are shedding new light on the movements of this species in IndiaThe nameColonel William Henry Sykes FRS 25 January 1790 ndash 16 June 1872 was an English naturalist who served with the British military in India and was specifically known for his work with the Indian Army as a politician Indologist and ornithologist He documented and described numerous bird species from the Deccan region in the 1830s and the bird is named after him