Puerto Rican Nightjar

IDENTIFICATION: A rare, very local night bird that is well camouflaged with mottled black and brown plumage. The male has white outer tail feathers that are visible only in flight. Length: 22-23 cm.; weight: 39.8-41.3 g.

VOICE: The song is a rapid series of "whip" notes given from a tree limb. Audio (M. Oberle). Singing activity peaks in the hour before morning twilight and in the hour after evening twilight and is more frequent at the beginning of the nesting season. It calls less often at the end of the breeding season, or at extremes of lighting such as on bright nights with a full moon, or on dark, overcast nights.

HABITAT: Coastal dry scrub forests in localized areas of southwestern Puerto Rico.

HABITS: Typically perches on a branch at night and then flies out to catch insects. Like Nighthawks, the Nightjar has stiff bristles around its wide mouth to aid in localizing airborne insects. The Nightjar requires forests with a leaf litter layer on the ground for nesting. In fact it really does not make a nest, but places its 1-2 eggs directly on the leaf litter, often under a low bush. The eggs are light brown, with darker brown or purple splotches. If an intruder approaches the nest too closely, the incubating bird will fly directly away from the nest and vibrate its wings to try to attract the potential predator away from the eggs. Such distraction displays are common in ground-nesting birds. The incubation period is 19 days. The chicks move to different locations on the ground, multiple times before finally starting to fly at about 14 days after hatching.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: The Puerto Rican Nightjar is on the federal endangered species list. It was discovered in the 19^th Century but was then lost to science until rediscovered in 1961. About 800 pairs breed in southwestern Puerto Rico, but the current range probably covers less than 10% of its former range on the island. It probably lived in dry lowland forests and possibly moist limestone hill forests from northwestern Puerto Rico, east to Bayamón. Habitat destruction and mongooses---which were introduced to Puerto Rico in 1887 to control rats in sugar cane plantations---may well have been responsible for eliminating the Nightjar from much of its former range. About half of the current range is protected in the Guánica and Susúa State Forests, but past proposals to place a garbage dump and other developments on public and private lands threaten the bird. In addition, nearby development may create habitat disturbances and make it easier for feral cats to penetrate protected forest areas. Deforestation, fires, road construction, and fire ants are threats, as well as cattle and goat grazing on the private lands where the species occurs.

RANGE: The Puerto Rican Nightjar is endemic to Puerto Rico. It has been found recently between Ponce (behind Las Cucharas Penitentiary) and Lajas, at locations such as Guánica and Susúa State Forests, Guayanilla Hills, Parguera Hills, and the Sierra Bermeja. Regular locations to find this species are on PR 334 in Guánica State Forest or in the forest adjacent to PR 333 above Playa Jaboncillo, or on the trail heading north from the end of the paved portion of PR 333. However, the species is far more often heard than seen. On a moonlit night you might get lucky and see one sally over a clearing or road to capture insects. Since this is an endangered species, do not use recorded playbacks of its call.

TAXONOMY: CAPRIMULGIFORMES; CAPRIMULGIDAE; Caprimulginae. Formerly called the Puerto Rican Whip-Poor-Will. Some taxonomists formerly lumped the Puerto Rican Nightjar with the Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus) of North America.

Photo: C. Kepler

Photo: F. Vilella

References

BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened birds of the world. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambridge, UK.

Cink, C. L. 2002. Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus). No. 620 in The Birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Cleere, N. and D. Nurney. 1998. Nightjars: a guide to nightjars and related nightbirds. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, UK.

Collar, N.J., L.P. Gonzaga, N. Krabbe, A. Madronno Nieto, L.G. Naranjo, T.A. Parker III, and D.C Wege. 1992. Threatened birds of the Americas: The ICBP/IUCN red data book, 3rd edition, part 2. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1999. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 5. Barn Owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Kepler, C.B. and A.K. Kepler. 1972. The distribution and ecology of the Puerto Rican Whip-poor-will, an endangered species. Living Bird 11:207-239.

Noble, R. E., F. J. Vilella, and P. J. Zwank. 1986. Apuntes sobre el anidamiento del guabairo. Carb. J. Sci. 22(3-4):223.

Noble, R. E., F. J. Vilella, and P. J. Zwank. 1986. Status of the endangered Puerto Rican Nightjar in 1985. Carb. J. Sci. 22(3-4): 137 -143.

Noble, R.E. 1988. Singing in the Puerto Rican Nightjar. Carb. J. Sci. 24:82-83.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Vilella, F. J. and P. J. Zwank. 1987. Density estimates and distribution of the Puerto Rican Nightjar in the Guayanilla Hills. Carb. J. Sci. 23(2): 238-242.

Vilella, F. J. and P. J. Zwank. 1988. Red Data Bird: Puerto Rican Nightjar. ICBP World Birdwatch 10(3-4): 9.

Vilella, F. J. 1989. Reproductive ecology and population biology of the Puerto Rican Nightjar Caprimulgus noctitherus, Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University.

Vilella, F. J. and P. J. Zwank. 1993. Ecology of the small Indian mongoose in a coastal dry forest of Puerto Rico where sympatric with the Puerto Rican Nightjar. Caribbean Journal of Science 29(1-2):24-29.

Vilella, F. J. and P. J. Zwank. 1993. Geographic distribution and abundance of the Puerto Rican Nightjar. Journal of Field Ornithology 64(2):223-238.

Vilella, F. J. 1995. Reproductive ecology and behavior of the Puerto Rican Nightjar Caprimulgus noctitherus. Bird Conservation International 5:349-366.

Puerto Rican Nightjar, Spanish text

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