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Information about Caprimulgidae

“Goatsucker” redirects here. For the cryptid translated from Spanish as goat sucker, see Chupacabra.
Nightjars
Enlarge picture
Common Nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, and Whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus vociferus

Common Nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, and Whip-poor-will, Caprimulgus vociferus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Caprimulgiformes
Family:Caprimulgidae
Vigors, 1825
Genera
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds with long wings, short legs and very short bills that usually nest on the ground. Nightjars are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers from the mistaken belief that they suck milk from goats (the Latin for goatsucker is Caprimulgus). Some North American species are named as nighthawks.

Nightjars are found around the world. They are mostly active in the late evening and early morning or at night, and feed predominantly on moths and other large flying insects.

Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is cryptically coloured to resemble bark or leaves. Some species, unusually for birds, perch along a branch, rather than across it. This helps to conceal them during the day.

The Common Poorwill, Phalaenoptilus nuttallii is unique as a bird that undergoes a form of hibernation, becoming torpid and with a much reduced body temperature for weeks or months.

Nightjars lay one or two patterned eggs directly onto bare ground.

Systematics

Traditionally, nightjars have been divided into two subfamilies: the Caprimulginae, or typical nightjars with about 70 species, and the Chordeilinae, or nighthawks of the New World with about 9 species. The two groups are similar in most respects, but the typical nightjars have rictal bristles, longer bills, and softer plumage. In their pioneering DNA-DNA hybridisation work, Sibley and Ahlquist found that the genetic difference between the eared-nightjars and the typical nightjars was, in fact, greater than that between the typical nightjars and the nighthawks of the New World. Accordingly, they placed the eared-nightjars in a separate family: Eurostopodidae.

Subsequent work, both morphological and genetic, has provided support for the separation of the typical and the eared-nightjars, and some authorities have adopted this Sibley-Ahlquist recommendation, and also the more far-reaching one to group all the owls (traditionally Strigiformes) together in the Caprimulgiformes. The listing below retains a more orthodox arrangement, but recognises the eared-nightjars as a separate group. For more detail and an alternative classification scheme, see Caprimulgiformes and Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy.

Enlarge picture
European Nightjar
Also see a list of nightjars, sortable by common and binomial names.

External links

Cryptids are creatures presumed extinct, hypothetical species, or creatures known from anecdotal evidence and/or other evidence insufficient to prove their existence with scientific certainty. The term "cryptid" was first coined in 1983 by John Wall.
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Chupacabra

Artist's depiction of a chupacabra
Creature

Name: Chupacabra
Classification
Grouping: Cryptid
Extraterrestrial
Data
First reported: Early 1990s
Last sighted: Present Day
Country: Puerto Rico,
Mexico,
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C. minor

Binomial name
Chordeiles minor
(Forster,JR, 1771)

The Common Nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, is a nightjar.
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C. vociferus

Binomial name
Caprimulgus vociferus
Wilson, 1812

The Whip-poor-will or whippoorwill, Caprimulgus vociferus
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Caprimulgiformes
Ridgway, 1881

Families

see text

The Caprimulgiformes is an order of birds that includes a number of birds with global distribution (except Antarctica). They are generally insectivorous and nocturnal.
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Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – October 26, 1840) was an Irish zoologist and politician.

Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811.
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Nyctiprogne

Nyctiprogne is a genus of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It contains the following species:
  • Band-tailed Nighthawk (Nyctiprogne leucopyga)
  • Plain-tailed Nighthawk (Nyctiprogne vielliardi)

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P. nacunda

Binomial name
Podager nacunda
(Vieillot, 1817)

The Nacunda Nighthawk (Podager nacunda) is a species of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family.
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Lurocalis

Lurocalis is a genus of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It contains the following species:
  • Rufous-bellied Nighthawk (Lurocalis rufiventris)
  • Short-tailed Nighthawk (Lurocalis semitorquatus)

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Chordeiles

Chordeiles is a genus of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It contains the following species:
  • Least Nighthawk (Chordeiles pusillus)
  • Sand-coloured Nighthawk (Chordeiles rupestris)

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Nyctidromus
Gould, 1838

Species: N. albicollis

Binomial name
Nyctidromus albicollis
(Gmelin, 1789)

The Pauraque,
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Phalaenoptilus

Species: P. nuttallii

Binomial name
Phalaenoptilus nuttallii
Audubon, 1844

The Common Poorwill,
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Siphonorhis
Sclater, 1861

Species

see text

Siphonorhis, the Caribbean pauraques, are a genus of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae.
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Nyctiphrynus

Nyctiphrynus is a genus of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It contains the following species:
  • Eared Poorwill (Nyctiphrynus mcleodii)
  • Ocellated Poorwill (Nyctiphrynus ocellatus)

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Caprimulgus
Linnaeus, 1758

Species

Many, see text

Caprimulgus is a large and very widespread genus of nightjars, medium-sized nocturnal birds with long pointed wings, short legs and short bills.
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Macrodipteryx is a genus of African nightjars consisting of two species. They inhabit subtropical woodlands and the males of both species acquire strikingly elongated primaries in the breeding season.
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Hydropsalis

Hydropsalis is a genus of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It contains the following species:
  • Ladder-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis climacocerca)
  • Scissor-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis torquata)

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Uropsalis

Uropsalis is a genus of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It contains the following species:
  • Lyre-tailed Nightjar (Uropsalis lyra)
  • Swallow-tailed Nightjar (Uropsalis segmentata)

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M. creagra

Binomial name
Macropsalis creagra
(Bonnaparte, 1850)

Synonyms
Macropsalis forcipata (Bonnaparte, 1850) The Long-trained Nightjar (Macropsalis creagra
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Eleothreptus

Eleothreptus is a genus of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It contains the following species:
  • Sickle-winged Nightjar (Eleothreptus anomalus)
  • White-winged Nightjar (Eleothreptus candicans)

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nocturnality describes sleeping during the daytime and being active at night - the opposite of the diurnal human lifestyle, and that of those animals with which we are most familiar. The intermediate crepuscular schedule (twilight activity) is also common.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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Phalaenoptilus

Species: P. nuttallii

Binomial name
Phalaenoptilus nuttallii
Audubon, 1844

The Common Poorwill,
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Caprimulgidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera
  • Nyctiprogne
  • Podager
  • Lurocalis
  • Chordeiles
  • Nyctidromus
  • Phalaenoptilus
  • Siphonorhis
  • Nyctiphrynus
  • Caprimulgus

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