Nighthawk in Gamboa, Panama (with pictures) (1 Viewer)

[Ben_T]

Hi everybody!

On the 15th of April 2016 while I was going to work I was able to snap a few pictures of a bird that landed on a tree beside the road in Gamboa town (on the other side of the road there were the train tracks and the Panama Canal). It was early morning so the light was not great and I was in a hurry, but I was thinking a Nighthawk, either Common or Lesser. Lesser in that period is slightly commoner...

So, what do you think? Thank you for your opinions!

Best wishes

Beniamino

 

[Andy Adcock]

Agree with your ID but we need to see if the wings are longer than the tail, Common if they are, Lesser if they're not.

They wings do appear long here so Common?


Andy

 

[Ben_T]

Agree with your ID but we need to see if the wings are longer than the tail, Common if they are, Lesser if they're not.

They wings do appear long here so Common?


Andy

Thanks, do you think? To me they appeared slightly longer than the tail in the first two pictures, and on par with the tail (or even a fraction shorter) in the other! On my observations notebook of the day I wrote that they were either on par or a teeny bit shorter, but maybe it was due to how they were folded

 

[njlarsen]

The only species I saw around Gamboa was the Pauraque, but it looks like you got one of the nighthawks. Just looking briefly at a couple of images, I cannot see a significant difference in wing/tail length in those uploaded here on BF, so you probably want to use other ways to separate. Start for example with this thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1820702

Niels

 

[Andy Adcock]

Niels,
the books show that Lesser's wings are clearly short of the tail tip, I think these are at least 'to' the tail tip?


A

 

[njlarsen]

Niels,
the books show that Lesser's wings are clearly short of the tail tip, I think these are at least 'to' the tail tip?


A

I should have been more clear: looking at *other* photos uploaded to the gallery here, some labeled as one and some labeled as the other, that difference did not seem clear.

Niels

 

[Andy Adcock]

I should have been more clear: looking at *other* photos uploaded to the gallery here, some labeled as one and some labeled as the other, that difference did not seem clear.

Niels

We are at the mercy of the wrongly labelled pics Niels, you have to ask if they are all correctly ID'd?

I do wonder if people ID more on probablilty and often just get it wrong?


Andy

 

[Ben_T]

Hi! Thank you very much for your imputs!

So, Common has going:
- to-the-tail outer primaries
- the white patch is very much covered by the tertials when the bird is resting
- "pointy" ends of the primaries (see here: https://cmboviewfromthecape.blogspot.it/2007/12/lesser-nighthawk-identification.html )
- not visible (at least in these pictures) buffy spots in the primary. They should have been at least barely visible in picture 1

Lesser has going:
- square-looking patch on the wing (picture 1)
- commoner in the area in that period