Buff-collared Nightjar Identification

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Buff-collared Nightjar Photos and Videos

A typical nightjar with large eyes, a small bill surrounded by whiskerlike rictal bristles, and an intricate mix of gray, brown, black, and rufous markings. Note the buffy-cinnamon neck collar that connects with a thin white throat collar.

Spends the day roosting on the ground, typically under small bushes on hillsides, with the head pointed downslope.

This nightjar’s bold cinnamon collar is more prominent than in other similar species.

Adult male has extensive white in the outer three tail feathers (visible in one feather here), while female has limited buffy tips and no white in the tail.

Nonbreeding birds often perch on and make foraging flights from the ground.

See more images of this species in Macaulay Library

Compare with Similar Species

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Identification

Fairly large, rather pale grayish nightjar of scrubby woodlands, thorn forests, edges and adjacent clearings in western Mexico. Hunts mainly from perches at forest edge and from the ground. Cryptic plumage similar to other nightjars; both sexes have buffy collar on the back of the neck. Male has white tail corners. Female has narrow, pale buffy tail corners. Best detected and identified by voice: striking song is a rapid, accelerating series of hollow clucks ending with an emphatic “chee-aa.”