The Antillean nighthawk (''Chordeiles gundlachii'') is a

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 bugeaters, their primary source of food ...

native to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

, and

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

. Its

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

, ''gundlachii'', is in honor of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n naturalist

Juan Gundlach Juan Cristóbal Gundlach (July 17, 1810 - March 14, 1896) was a German-Cuban naturalist and taxonomist. Biography Gundlach graduated from Marburg University, where his father was professor of physics, as Doctor of Philosophy in 1837. In 1839, h ...

Description

The adults are dark with brown, grey and white patterning on the upperparts and breast; the long wings are black and show a white bar in flight. The tail is dark with white barring; the underparts are white with black bars. The adult male has a white throat; the female has a light brown throat. The most distinguishing characteristic to determine its identity from its closest relative the

common nighthawk The common nighthawk or bullbat (''Chordeiles minor'') is a medium-sized crepuscular or nocturnal bird of the Americas within the nightjar (Caprimulgidae) family, whose presence and identity are best revealed by its vocalization. Typically dark ...

are the contrasting pale

tertials Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

near the back of the wings of a sitting bird. There are two color morphs, a gray and a rufous type. Like other nighthawks, this bird will display by flying upward with a distinctive call note, then diving, pulling out of the dive only a few feet from the ground. This creates a rush of air and distinctive sound.

Habitat and distribution

Their breeding habitat is open country of the

Greater Antilles The Greater Antilles is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antille ...

, the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

, the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, and the

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. They usually nest on bare ground, sometimes in raised locations including stumps or gravel roofs. They especially favor recently cleared areas in forests, airport fields, cane fields and pastures. Little is known about migration habits, although there is some evidence of migration routes to North and Central South America. Perlut, N., and A. Levesque. 2020. Light-level geolocation reveals the migration route and non-breeding location of an Antillean Nighthawk (Chordeiles gundlachii). Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 33:49–53. https://doi.org/10.55431/jco.2020.33.49-53

Breeding

The Antillean nighthawk migrates out of its breeding range after raising its young. It still remains unknown where the birds spend the winter. The two eggs are laid directly on bare ground - there is no nest. Incubation is performed largely by the female and lasts for about 20 days. Young fledge at about 20 days of age.

Diet

They catch flying insects on the wing, mainly foraging near dawn and dusk (''crepuscular'') or sometimes at night with a full moon.

Call

The call is a short ''pikadik'' usually heard overhead. The common nighthawk occasionally will make a similar call, but it is not as consistent. In the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, the bird is called ''querebebé;'' in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, the bird is called ''querequequé''. Both are

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...

terms which originate in

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

References

External links

Antillean Nighthawk Bird Sound
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1269012

Antillean nighthawk The Antillean nighthawk (''Chordeiles gundlachii'') is a nightjar native to the Caribbean, The Bahamas, and Florida Keys. Its specific epithet, ''gundlachii'', is in honor of Cuban naturalist Juan Gundlach. Description The adults are dark with ...

Birds of the Caribbean Birds of the Dominican Republic Birds of Haiti