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Rufous Nightjar | Antrostomus rufus
Rosse nachtzwaluw | Chotacabras rojizo
The Rufous Nightjar is a medium-sized, warm rufous-brown nightjar of dry forest and forest edges. In the guide area it lives in Panama and south-western Costa Rica, at the northern edge of a range that reaches far into South America. By day it is almost impossible to find, but in the dry season its fast, rhythmic song can be heard at dusk in many places.
Voice
The song is a fast, rhythmic chuck, wick-wick-WEEoo, with a short, soft first note audible only at close range; it is repeated at length. It sings mainly at dusk and by moonlight, most in the dry season from January to May. Largely silent outside the singing season.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
25–29 cm. A medium-sized, fairly heavy nightjar with a large head, rounded wings and a fairly long, rounded tail. The plumage is warm rufous-brown, densely marbled and barred with black; the crown has black streaks. The throat is rufous-brown with a narrow buff to pale band below; the breast is dark spotted. The male has a white patch on the inner web of the three outer tail feathers, smaller than in Chuck-will's-widow; the female lacks that white. The wings lack a white bar.
Confusion species
Chuck-will's-widow Antrostomus carolinensis, present in the same area in winter, is larger and slightly paler, with a less distinct throat band and larger white tail patches in the male; without the song the two are hard to separate. The Pauraque Nyctidromus albicollis is greyer, with a longer tail and, in the male, a white wing band. The White-tailed Nightjar Hydropsalis cayennensis is smaller and greyer, with a rufous hindneck collar and, in the male, much white in tail and wing. The Ocellated Poorwill Nyctiphrynus ocellatus is smaller and darker, with rows of white spots on the wing.
Habitat
Dry and semi-evergreen forest, forest edges, secondary forest, scrub with taller trees and open woodland with grassland, from the lowlands to about 1500 m. By day it rests on the ground among leaves. At night it hunts large flying insects from a branch or the ground. The eggs are laid without a nest on the leaf litter.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In the guide area in Panama, on both sides of the country from Chiriquí and Veraguas through Coclé, Panamá and Colón to Darién, and in south-western Costa Rica, especially in Puntarenas province; only a few records in northern Costa Rica. The birds belong to the subspecies A. r. minimus. Outside the guide area on Saint Lucia and in South America, from Colombia and Venezuela to Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In the dry season, from January to April, the song can be heard at dusk in dry and secondary forest around Panama City, in the Pacific lowlands of Coclé and Veraguas and around the former Canal Zone. Then search in torchlight for the red eyeshine on a low branch or a track.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Locally fairly common in Panama, scarce and local in Costa Rica. The species tolerates secondary forest and forest edges but loses habitat where dry forest disappears entirely.
Scientific name
Antrostomus rufus | (Boddaert, 1783)
Boddaert described the species in 1783 as Caprimulgus rufus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Antrostomus was introduced in 1838 by Bonaparte. Antrostomus is Greek, from antron 'cave' and stoma 'mouth': 'cave-mouth', after the enormous gape. rufus is Latin for 'red, rufous', after the warm rufous plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.