Spot-tailed Nightjar
Antiurus maculicaudus
Small nightjar of savanna and grassland with scattered bushes and palmettos. Spends the day roosting cryptically on the ground, but at night may be found beside quiet roads and tracks. Like all nightjars, eyes reflect amber-red in lights. Plumage similar to other nightjars, but note the pale buffy eyebrow, buffy V-shaped stripe on the back, and bold wing spotting. Male has small white tail tip, lacking in female. White spots on male’s tail usually only visible in the hand. Song is high and insectlike, unlikely to draw attention.
Identification
The spot-tailed nightjar is 20.3 to 21.5 cm (8.0 to 8.5 in) long. Males weigh 28.3 to 35.2 g (1.0 to 1.2 oz) and females 26.0 to 39.0 g (0.92 to 1.4 oz). Their upperparts are brown, darker on the crown and paler on the rump, and spotted and barred with buff or tawny. The face is tawny or rufous with dark brown speckles, and a broad buff supercilium. The hindneck has a broad cinnamon band. The wings are mostly brown with tawny spots. The four outer tail feathers on each side are dark brown with tawny markings, two or three large white spots, and (on only the male) white tips that have a buff wash. The inner tail feathers are slightly longer than the outer ones and colored grayish brown with brown speckles and bars. The chin, throat, and breast are cinnamon to buff and the belly and flanks buff.
Taxonomy
The spot-tailed nightjar was described as Stenopsis maculicaudus and later moved into genus Caprimulgus with many other members of nightjar family. (A few authors placed it in genus Antiurus between those times.) DNA evidence now places it firmly in genus Hydropsalis. It is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Antiurus maculicaudus
- Authority
- (Lawrence, 1862)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Not Found
- Genus
- Antiurus
Range and habitat
The spot-tailed nightjar's distribution is highly discontinuous. One population is found in southern Mexico. Another is on the Caribbean slope in eastern Honduras and northern Nicaragua. In South America, one population is centered in eastern Colombia and extends into western Venezuela, far northwestern Brazil, and slightly into Ecuador. A second stretches from eastern Venezuela through Guyana and Suriname into French Guiana. A third resides near the mouth of the Amazon River in northeastern Brazil. The largest (in area) is found from far southeastern Peru across Bolivia and a wide swath of southern Brazil and south barely into Paraguay and Argentina. In elevation it ranges from lowlands to 500 m (1,600 ft) in Mexico, to 400 m (1,300 ft) in Colombia, to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Venezuela, and to 1,350 m (4,400 ft) in Peru.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The South American populations of spot-tailed nightjar are apparently sedentary and those in Central American migratory.<p>The spot-tailed nightjar is nocturnal. It forages by sallying from the ground or during low, slow, flight. Its diet is entirely insects; it has been documented preying on insects of at least 17 families in six orders.<p>The spot-tailed nightjar's breeding seasons have not been fully defined but vary considerably among the different populations. They lay their two eggs (rarely one) directly on the ground without a nest.<p>The spot-tailed nightjar's song is "a high lisping 'tip-SEEEUUEEET'", and is sung both from the ground and from a perch. It has "a rapid t-seet t-seet t-seet t-seet" call and a "slightly wailing seeeu or see-ee-eeii in flight".
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Gray-crowned Crocias
Laniellus langbianis
Resembles a three-way cross of a shrike, a sibia, and a laughingthrush. Black robber’s-mask, warm orange-brown back, streaked white underparts, and long gray tail with white tips below. Often seen in pairs of small flocks, sometimes mixed in with other species. Forages in the canopy, clambering around in search of prey. Inhabits mid-elevation forest, often in wetter areas. Song is a series of rapid-fire high-pitched chitters.
White-headed Vulture
Trigonoceps occipitalis
A medium-sized, mostly dark vulture with an angular, naked, pale pink head and bulky coral-colored beak. In flight, the adult’s white “armpits” extend out as a stripe along the middle of the underwing; the larger females differ from males by having all-white innermost flight feathers. Widespread in open country but declining rapidly outside of protected areas. Often one of the first vultures to arrive at a carcass but also scavenges the kills of eagles; sometimes hunts and kills small mammals, birds, and reptiles.
Cinereous Vulture
Aegypius monachus
Huge, majestic, dark-brown vulture. In flight, looks all dark, with some contrast between the leading edge and trailing edge from below. Soars on flat wings, often slightly drooping, with prominent wing fingers and a saw-toothed trailing edge. Juvenile lacks the adult’s pale head patches. Imposing and dominant over other vultures at carcasses. Forages over rugged mountains, upland forests, grasslands, and steppes. Sometimes disperses significant distances in the winter.
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