Alternative name: Pauraque
- Nyctidromus albicollis
Identification
22–28cm long. Male white band near wing tips, white outer tail feathers. Female - narrower wing band. Long tail, rounded wings. Buff eyering and facial stripe.
The male (top photo) has a broad white band across the outermost primaries which is especially evident when flying. It also has white along the sides of the tail. These are lacking in the female (bottom photo).
At rest, separated from most other species by the combination of the double row of buff-edged black spots over the scapulars, the relatively uniform rufous cheeks, and the relatively long tail that extends far out beyond the wing-tips.
Distribution
From south Texas and Mexico through Central America and South America to northern Argentina.
Taxonomy
It is the only bird in the genus Nyctidromus.
Subspecies
Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
- N. a. insularis: Tres Marías Islands (off western Mexico)
- N. a. merrilli: lower Rio Grande Valley (southern Texas) to Tamaulipas (northeastern Mexico); winters to Puebla
- N. a. yucatanensis: tropical northern Mexico to Belize, Cozumel, and Guatemala
- N. a. intercedens: southern Guatemala to Costa Rica and western Panama
- N. a. gilvus: Panama and northern Colombia
- N. a. albicollis: eastern Colombia to Venezuela, the Guianas, northern Brazil, and in south to northern Bolivia
- N. a. derbyanus: central and southern Brazil to northeastern Argentina
Habitat
Woodland habitats, preferably forest, but also scrub and cultivation.
Behaviour
Nocturnal.
Breeding
2 pinkish eggs are laid on bare ground or leaf litter.
Diet
Diet includes insects caught in flight or foraging.
Vocalisation
Male may sing solitary, or as member of groups of two or three
Recorded by njlarsen
Arenal Volcano, Fortuna, Costa Rica, December 2010
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
- L. Sandoval and I. Escalante 2011. Song description and individual variation in males of the Common Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis). Ornithologia Neotropical 22:173-185
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
