Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Moonlight determines when the red-necked nightjar feeds, migrates and raises its young. A groundbreaking long-term study from Lund University shows how the migratory bird's entire annual cycle follows the moon's rhythm. "… the lovely, melancholy moonlight, which makes the birds dream in the trees…" The French poet Paul Verlaine was seemingly wrong in his famous poem Clair de Lune. Moonlight does not make the birds dream up in the treetops—quite the opposite. In a new study , researchers have investigated how the moon affects the red-necked nightjar—a bird with a tapping "kjotok-kjotok" call that breeds in southern Europe and spends winters in West Africa. The research, published in Science Advances , shows that the nightjar literally lives off the moon's light. When the moon is full, the bird can hunt insects for much of the night. When it is dark, it is instead forced to rely on brief hunting opportunities at dusk and dawn.…