White-tailed Nightjar
Hydropsalis cayennensis
This rather long-tailed nightjar is found in open grassy or shrubby habitats from Costa Rica across much of northern South America. Both sexes show a distinctive buffy nape. Males have extensive white in the tail, especially visible in flight. Strictly nocturnal; single individuals are most often seen sitting on the ground at night, sallying up to catch flying insects. Listen for the song, which begins with a sharp “pik” note, followed by a longer whistled “seeeee,” ascending and then descending.
Identification
The white-tailed nightjar is 20 to 22.5 cm (7.9 to 8.9 in) long. Males weigh 33 to 40 g (1.2 to 1.4 oz) and females 32 to 38 g (1.1 to 1.3 oz). Males of the nominate subspecies have grayish brown uppersides with brown to blackish brown speckles and streaks. Their face has a white or buffy supercilium and "moustache". The hindneck has a broad tawny buff collar. The wings are generally grayish to blackish brown with tawny and buffy markings. A white band shows on both the spread and folded wing. The tail appears slightly forked; all but the innermost pair of feathers are partially to completely white. The chin and throat are white. The breast is buff with a cinnamon tinge, brown bars, and bold white spots. The belly and flanks are white with a pale buff wash. The nominate females are darker overall. They do not have white on the wings or tail. The throat is buffy, the breast brownish, and the belly buff with brown bars.<p>H. c. albicauda is similar to the nominate, but the male's belly has a strong buff tinge and the female's underparts are dark brownish buff. H. c. aperta has a longer wing and tail than the nominate. It is similar to albicauda though the female's upper- and underparts are darker. H. c. insularis is paler than the nominate and possibly smaller. Its upperparts, especially the crown, are buffier. H. c. leopetes is similar to the nominate, but the buff of its collar and other markings is richer. The male's underparts are darker and the female's upperparts paler. H. c. manati is darker than the nominate and has less white in the tail.<p>The call is "a high, thin pt-cheeeeeeeee, the second note a long-drawn-out, rising whistle that falls slightly at end." The male sings from dusk well into the night during breeding season. Calls include "a scratchy wheer in flight" and "a thin tic-tic" when flushed from a roost.
Taxonomy
The white-tailed nightjar was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other nightjars in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus cayennensis. Gmelin based his description on "L'engoulevent varié de Cayenne" that was described in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. A hand-coloured illustration was also published.<p>Based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Kin-Lan Han and collaborators published in 2010, the white-tailed nightjar is now placed with three other species in the genus Hydropsalis. This genus was introduced in 1832 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek hudro- meaning "water-" with psalis meaning "pair of scissors". The specific epithet cayennensis is from Cayenne, French Guiana, the type locality.<p>Six subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Hydropsalis cayennensis
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Caprimulgiformes
- Family
- Caprimulgidae
- Genus
- Hydropsalis
Range and habitat
It is found in the "ABC Islands", Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Martinique, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.<p>The white-tailed nightjar is a bird of open landscapes such as savanna, pastures, scrubby grasslands, and hillsides with scattered bushes and thickets.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The white-tailed nightjar is nocturnal. It mostly forages by sallying from the ground or perches but also will hunt in flight low over open grasslands. Its diet is insects but is not known in detail. It roosts on the ground during the day.<p>The white-tailed nightjar's breeding seasons have not been well defined but are known to vary across its range. Males make a wing-clapping display. The clutch size is two; the eggs are laid directly on the ground and only the female incubates them.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Indigo Bunting
Passerina cyanea
Breeding males are entirely blue with a slightly darker head. Females are plain brown with a whitish throat, bluish tail, and faint streaks on the underparts. Breeds in shrubby areas at the edge of forests and fields. Males often sing from a high exposed perch. Winters mainly in Middle America and the Caribbean, where it frequently gathers in flocks in weedy fields. Females can be very difficult to distinguish from Lazuli Bunting, although their range doesn't overlap much. Indigo usually shows more streaking on the underparts; also note fainter wingbars, duller breast, and more contrasting whitish throat.
Eastern Spinebill
Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
A small bird with a long curved bill. Adults have an obvious dark cap (black on males and gray on females) and mask with dark marks down the side of the chest. Note the white corners to the fanned tail that can be obvious in flight. Young birds are plain buff-colored underneath and plain brown above. Young birds could be confused with female Scarlet Myzomela (Scarlet Honeyeater), but note longer bill of spinebill. Eastern Spinebills are active and fast, darting around quickly between flowering trees in wetter forested areas as well as parks and gardens. Voice is a loud repetitive piping whistle.
Sapphire-rumped Parrotlet
Touit purpuratus
Small parrot of lowland rainforest and savanna regions; more common in areas with sandy soils, but rarely seen well. Usually in small flocks that fly rapidly through or above canopy, settling into trees where they essentially disappear. When perched, best identified by small size and combination of blue rump and red outer tail feathers. In flight, gives drawn-out, complaining call note, very unlike calls of other parrots in range. Feeds on fruit.
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