Rare discovery as nightjar found behind Belfast bin

BBC ^ | January 10, 2026 | Eimear Flanagan

[Twotone]

An elusive bird which is now considered to be extremely rare in Northern Ireland made an unexpected visit to a Belfast street, where it was found behind a bin.

Office staff who spotted it on the Lisburn Road thought it might be a bird of prey and called wildlife rescuer Debbie Nelson, who works under the name Debbie Doolittle.

She was surprised to find it was in fact a nightjar - a bird she described as "almost extinct" in Northern Ireland, with only a handful of sightings since the 1950s.

"They were about to put some rubbish in the bin and they saw the bird behind it," she told BBC News NI.

Doolittle explained nocturnal birds can sometimes become disorientated by street lights and collide with tall buildings, so it may have bumped into something.

She brought it back to the rescue centre she runs near her home in Antrim so the bird could rest until she felt it was fit and well enough to set free the next day.

"It's very rewarding getting to release something back into the wild and knowing you've given it that second chance," she said.

[greenbrier]

Nightjar? A bird?

Sounded much more like some odd bit of pottery that needed cleaning out before putting back in the nightstand...

[OldHarbor]

The Goatsucker (M. Catesby, 1754)

Naturalist Charles Waterton wrote in defense of the bird .

"The harmless, unoffending Goatsucker, from the time of Aristotle down to the present day, has been in disgrace with man. Father has handed down to son, and author to author, that this nocturnal thief subsists by milking the flocks. Poor injured little bird of night, how sadly hast thou suffered, and how foul a stain has inattention to facts put upon thy character! Thou hast never robbed man of any part of his property nor deprives the kid a drop of milk.", (Waterton, 1825).

Goatsuckers (J. Meydenbach, 1491)

[BradyLS]

I don’t know where they go to rest by day, but Austin has Chimney Swifts. They don’t seem to be bothered by lights at night, as they like to swoop around big parking lots with tall lights. The lights attract bugs which attract the swifts. You hear them call but generally can’t see them unless they pass extremely close to a light. They stay above the lamps which block the glare of the lights.

[bert]

We had swifts living in our chimney for decades. As far as I remember they returned to the roost in the evenings. They had noisy chicks

[piasa]

And the Chuck-Will’s-Widow of the South.

[Jamestown1630]

I think we tend to call them ‘night hawks’ in the US.

[piasa]

That sounds more like Nighthawks than Chimney Swifts… swifts aren’t nocturnal. If the call sounds like “peent…peent,” they are nighthawks.
Nighthawks like to nest on the flat roofs of commercial buildings and such.

[piasa]

Nighthawks , chuckwillswidows and whippoorwills are related but their Irish one is its own species.

[lee martell]

What kind of self respecting Bird just sits there, and allows himself to be caught by the random human being?

Lost Fledging, recently kicked out of the Nest? or maybe temporarily stunned from flying into a glassy building? Put a Turban bandage of his poor, feathered head.
Not covered by Insurance.

[ek_hornbeck]

Nighthawks , chuckwillswidows and whippoorwills

I see and hear nighthawks and whippoorwills much less frequently now than I did decades ago, their numbers are really down compared to what they once were, I kind of miss listening to the whippoorwills at night. The article says that European nightjars were once common in the UK and Ireland as well.

[ek_hornbeck]

Interesting piece of trivia - the common poorwill (similar to the whippoorwill, but with a call containing one less syllable) is one of the only birds that can hibernate.

I've seen poorwills in the desert, they're almost perfectly camouflaged and sit dead still until you're right next to them (when they startle you by taking off).

[left that other site]

I thought they were talking about an archaeological discovery of an ancient Chamber-Pot.

[one guy in new jersey]

same

[left that other site]

Archaeologists LOVE those! 😁

[dfwgator]

Mush-a ring dum-a do dum-a da
Whack fol my daddy-o
Whack fol my daddy-o
There’s whiskey in the nightjar

[Scarlett156]

*tsk*

[BradyLS]

🎶 “Toke-a-lid! Smoke-a-lid! Pop the mescalino!
Stash the hash! Gonna crash! Make mine methedrino!
Hop a hill! Pop a pill! For Old Tim Benzedrino!” 🎶

—from Bored of the Rings

[Fury]

Good point.

American Woodcocks also peent.

[minnesota_bound]

Discovered behind a bin by a pub they found a bird she described as “almost extinct” in Northern Ireland.

If only the birds would stop drinking....

[BradyLS]

Going over it, I think you’re right. The birds I hear but can’t see chasing bugs around parking lot lights are probably Nighthawks.