Buff-collared Nightjar

How to find it

Plan to search after dark, because the bird rests on the ground by day and is mostly active at night, at dawn and at dusk. Listen for the rising run of 'cuk' notes ending in 'cukacheea', the easiest clue to its presence. Moonlit nights are worth trying too, since it hunts then. Scan the tops of shrubs and small trees at dusk and dawn, where it likes an exposed perch. Little night birding is done in northwestern Guanacaste, and more searching in out-of-the-way places, by day and by night, could turn up more of these nightjars.

How to recognise it

A bright cinnamon-buff collar across the back of the neck gives the bird its name. Look for these marks:

A narrow buffy-white band under the throat.

A head and upperparts of brownish gray with cream and rust markings.

A tan belly with dark brown bars.

Brownish black wings with cinnamon-buff bands.

Across its range the bird is about 22 to 23 cm long. The sexes differ at the tail: the male has a lot of white at the tips of the two outer tail feathers, while the female has only a small amount of buff there. That is the easiest way to tell them apart.

What it sounds like

Recording: rawcomposition, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It eats insects, probably large night-flying ones such as beetles and moths. It often sits on an exposed perch at the top of a shrub or small tree, then flies out to catch passing insects in the air. It also makes sorties from the ground or from a perch on a bush, tree or large rock.

It hunts at dusk and dawn, and also on moonlit nights. By day it rests on the ground, which is one reason it is so seldom seen.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica the Buff-collared Nightjar lives in dry lowland Guanacaste, in the northwest of the country. The species is described as living on the Pacific slope as far south as western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica.

That dry forest has suffered: almost all primary dry forest in Costa Rica was gone by 1961, and this is the habitat type of the Guanacaste region where the nightjar might occur. Across its wider range it is also a bird of remote desert canyons.

When to see it

No months are known for the Santa Rosa birds. One writer wondered whether they sing only at certain times of year, which could explain why they went unnoticed.

Similar birds

The Dusky Nightjar has a buff throat band and no collar on the nape, while the Buff-collared has a bright buff collar. The Dusky is a mountain bird of central Costa Rica to western Panama, at 1500 to 3100 m, with no white wing markings, whereas the Buff-collared lives in dry lowland Guanacaste.

The Rufous Nightjar, which also occurs in Costa Rica, has a buff collar on the rear of the neck but is rusty-brown overall with a whitish front of the neck. The White-tailed Nightjar has a light orange-buff collar and a long notched tail, and the male has mostly white in the tail.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Chotacabras Tucuchillo. The song gave the bird the name Préstame-tu-cuchillo, which means 'lend me your knife', and English speakers also call it Cookacheea after the same song. Other Spanish names used in the region, not all confirmed for Costa Rica, include Tapacamino Tu-cuchillo, Pocoyo Collajero and, in Honduras, Pucuyo collar claro.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list marks it R? and M, while another Costa Rica list codes it A, for accidental, the only nightjar on that list with this code.

Photography tips

Searching after dark for its song is the practical approach, since the bird rests on the ground by day. Exposed perches at the top of shrubs are where you are most likely to see it, at dusk and dawn.