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We'll be staying at Punda Maria on the nights of 27 and 28th December, and would love to try and find the Penant-winged Nightjars (again - last year was unsuccessful). Would the sunset drive be the best, or should we rather book the night drive which leaves at 7pm? It's still quite light by then, so we're not sure what to do. Our night drive at the same time last year was spoiled by a group of very vocal tourists and a disinterested replacement driver for our vehicle, who fell asleep at the wheel and nearly drove us into a ditch

I'd go with sunset drive, these birds are getting active as the sun sets. But arrange beforehand with management with regards to your plans to see this bird. There is a known spot on the Mahonie loop, but other guests might not fancy your idea too much so try and get on a ride out on your own.

Good Evening Lonehill_Birders

I think you may be to late by the end of December but its worth a shot.Ask the guys doing the game drives if they have seen them? Our guide by the name of Thomas took us to a spot on the Mahonie loop on the night drive on the 10 November and the result I have posted below! What amagical experience watching him ghost out of the darkness! WOW one of my top 10 birding experiences ever......

What an experience and what a photo !!! It is still on my wishlist.

Wow! Wonderful capture there Ferdelance

I was fortunate enough to see them at Punda Maria on 3rd November last year (2011). We (the people on the vehicle) were the FIRST people to see them as they'd not been seen previously that year.

I did use my Roberts PDA to call them with a Shox speaker to magnify the sound though After playing their call for about 15 minutes on an off we were rewarded with the spectacle of 4 of them flying around our vehicle. (Unfortunately no decent photographs, I'd left my dedicated flash in the room and unfortunately could only use the on-board flash which wasn't powerful enough)

Dave

Thanks everybody! And I'm so jealous of your photo's! What a stunning bird
We'll contact Punda and see if we're lucky enough this time round to be on Thomas's
truck. Last time he was late back from the drive and we were fobbed off with a replacement driver.
Maybe the bird would have lost its penants by end December, but we'll keep our fingers crossed. Will let you know if we find it.

Thomas took us to the same spot on 11 November on the evening drive and we were fortunate to see two flying and caught one on the ground


It was really dark before we could catch them in the air, sorry for the poor quality

What an amazing sight and a thrill, they look so surreal while flying, almost like a Chinese kite that a child would fly.