Roraiman Nightjar
Tepuiornis whitelyi
A medium-sized, dark nightjar of tepui highlands, difficult to identify by plumage alone. Cryptically patterned with dark brown and gray accented with buffy and whitish bars and spots. Male has a white band in the wing, which the female lacks. Uncommon, found in humid forest and edges, as well as humid scrub close to forested areas. Distinctive voice is a hoarse whistle “whoEEuuu”, given repeatedly. Larger than the similar Band-winged Nightjar, and smaller than Blackish Nightjar, but best identified by voice and habitat.
Identification
The Roraiman nightjar is 21 to 22.4 cm (8.3 to 8.8 in) long. Males weigh 30 to 40 g (1.1 to 1.4 oz) and females 45 to 48 g (1.6 to 1.7 oz). The male's upperparts are blackish brown with cinnamon and grayish spots. The tail feathers are dark brown; the outermost three pairs have faint but broad pale buff bars and two pairs have large white spots at their tips. The wings are mostly dark brown with a thin white bar near the end and white spots near the body. The chin and upper throat are dark brown, the lower throat white, the breast dark brown with pale buff bars, and the belly and flanks pale buff with brown bars. The female is more brownish than blackish, the wing spots and bars are smaller and buffy instead of white, and the white spots on the tail are smaller.
Taxonomy
The Roraiman nightjar was described as Anstrotomus whitelyi and was later lumped into genus Caprimulgus. Since the early 2010s has been placed in its current genus Setopagis. It is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Tepuiornis whitelyi
- Authority
- (Salvin, 1885)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Tepuiornis
Range and habitat
The Roraiman nightjar is found in the tepui region at the junction of southeastern Venezuela, southwestern Guyana, and northernmost Brazil. It inhabits open areas such as savanna, clearings, and the edges of forest. In elevation it ranges between 1,280 and 1,800 m (4,200 and 5,900 ft) in Venezuela but has been recorded as low as 850 m (2,790 ft) in Guyana.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Roraiman nightjar is nocturnal. Little is known about its foraging behavior, whether it forages by sallying from the ground or a low perch and/or during continuous flight.<p>The Roraiman nightjar's breeding phenology is unknown. It is assumed to lay one or two eggs directly on the ground like other nightjars.<p>The Roraiman nightjar's song is "a burry hreeer, rising then falling in pitch, and repeated at intervals of 1-2 seconds."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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