The Roraiman nightjar (''Setopagis whitelyi'') is a species of

nightjar Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk ta ...

in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Roraiman nightjar was described as ''Anstrotomus whitelyi'' and was later lumped into genus ''Caprimulgus''. Since the early 2010s has been placed in its current genus ''Setopagis''. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021West, M. and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Roraiman Nightjar (''Setopagis whitelyi''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rornig1.01 retrieved October 8, 2021

Description

The Roraiman nightjar is long. Males weigh and females . The male's upperparts are blackish brown with cinnamon and grayish spots. The tail feathers are dark brown; the outermost three pairs have faint but broad pale buff bars and two pairs have large white spots at their tips. The wings are mostly dark brown with a thin white bar near the end and white spots near the body. The chin and upper throat are dark brown, the lower throat white, the breast dark brown with pale buff bars, and the belly and flanks pale buff with brown bars. The female is more brownish than blackish, the wing spots and bars are smaller and buffy instead of white, and the white spots on the tail are smaller.

Distribution and habitat

The Roraiman nightjar is found in the

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran S ...

region at the junction of southeastern Venezuela, southwestern Guyana, and northernmost Brazil. It inhabits open areas such as savanna, clearings, and the edges of forest. In elevation it ranges between in Venezuela but has been recorded as low as in Guyana.

Behavior

Feeding

The Roraiman nightjar is nocturnal. Little is known about its foraging behavior, whether it forages by sallying from the ground or a low perch and/or during continuous flight.

Breeding

The Roraiman nightjar's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples includ ...

is unknown. It is assumed to lay one or two eggs directly on the ground like other nightjars.

Vocalization

The Roraiman nightjar's song is "a burry ''hreeer'', rising then falling in pitch, and repeated at intervals of 1-2 seconds."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the Roraiman nightjar as being of Least Concern. Though its population is unknown it is believed to be stable. The primary threat is habitat modification; the tepui vegetation when damaged does not regrow but is replaced by vegetation less suitable for the nightjar.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27074757

Roraiman nightjar The Roraiman nightjar (''Setopagis whitelyi'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The Roraiman nightjar was described as ''Anstrotomus whitelyi'' and w ...

Birds of Venezuela

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Birds of the Tepuis