Nocturnal Birds

Several species of birds are active primarily at night – surprisingly, not all are owls. Other nocturnal birds that fly around during nighttime include nightjars, frogmouths, and herons. Even certain flightless birds like kiwis prefer to move about at night.

List of Common Nocturnal Birds

Species	Where Do They Live?
Australian Boobook	Australia, New Guinea, Timor, and the Sunda Islands
Australasian Large-tailed Nightjar	Australia, Papua New Guinea, and parts of Southeast Asia
Australian Owlet-nightjar	Australia and New Guinea
Barking Owl	Australia, Moluccas, and New Guinea
Barred Owl	Eastern United States (Florida, Maine, New England, etc) and parts of Canada (Ontario, New Brunswick, etc)
Black-crowned Night Heron	Worldwide, except for Australia and Antarctica
Boreal Owl	Temperate Eurasia and North America
Burrowing Owl	North and South America
Christmas Island Hawk-owl	Australia and parts of Southeast Asia
Common Nightingale	Palearctic and Sub-Saharan Africa
Eastern Barn Owl	Australia, the Indian subcontinent, parts of Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands
Eastern Screech-owl	Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada, encompassing Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Kansas, Montana, Texas, and Arkansas
Elf Owl	Western North America, from the Southwestern United States to the Baja California peninsula, encompassing central Mexico
Flammulated Owl	The western part of North America, from southern British Columbia to central Mexico, encompassing Arizona, California, Texas, etc
Great Gray Owl	North America (Quebec to the Pacific coast) and Eurasia (Finland to Estonia)
Great Horned Owl	North and South America
Kākāpō	New Zealand
Long-eared Owl	Eurasia and North America
Marbled Frogmouth	Queensland, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands
Nankeen Night Heron	Australia, Java, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Caroline Islands, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands
Norfolk Island Boobook	Norfolk Island
Northern Saw-whet Owl	North America
North Island Brown Kiwi	New Zealand (North Island and Little Barrier Island)
Oilbird	Northern South America, also Trinidad
Papuan Frogmouth	Cape York Peninsula, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands
Powerful Owl	Eastern and south-eastern Australia
Rufous Owl	Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea
Short-eared Owl	Worldwide, except Australia, Antarctica, and parts of Africa
Spotted Nightjar	Australia and parts of Indonesia
Spotted Owl	Western North America
Tasmanian Boobook	Tasmania
Tawny Frogmouth	Tasmania and most of the Australian mainland
Western Screech-owl	Western North America
Whiskered Screech-owl	Central and North America
White-throated Nightjar	Eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea

Adaptations of Nocturnal Birds

These birds have developed a few notable features to be active at night.

Enhanced senses – Most nocturnal birds have large, light-sensitive eyes to see in the dark or a facial disk to focus on the sounds in their environment.
Camouflage – Many nocturnal birds have plumage whose color matches their surroundings, keeping them hidden in the daytime.