Chuck-will's-widow

How to find it

Plan for dusk, before dawn or after dark, when it calls and hunts. Work the edges rather than deep forest: scrub, clearings, farmland hedgerows and savanna hedgerows. At night these birds often sit on roads and roadsides, where headlights can pick them up, and the eyes give back a bright orange glow. By day it is found by luck, so a guide checking likely roost spots such as low branches over water gives you the best chance. Because it is easily overlooked and usually uncommon to rare, patience matters more than speed.

How to recognise it

This is a large, colourful nightjar about 31 cm long. Look for these marks:

Branched bristles around the bill.

Fairly pointed wings.

Warm brown upperparts.

Black streaks on the crown and back.

Male and female differ in the tail. The male has broad white tips on the three outer tail feathers, while the female lacks white in the tail. The female's throat band is also a darker buff.

Nightjars often show white in the wings and tail in flight, and females look like males but with white areas that may be buffier, smaller or missing. White in the tail is usually not visible on this species, which is a useful clue when you compare it with the Whip-poor-will.

What it sounds like

Recording: Reid Hardin, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

In winter it roosts by day on the ground or on a low perch. Roosts of up to 50 birds have been noted on branches over water. At night it moves alone.

Its hunting is done in the air. It flies up from the ground or a low perch to catch large insects such as beetles, moths and cicadas. By day it rests motionless on the ground or on a horizontal branch, and nightjars like this one are often found only when flushed.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is widely distributed on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes, from the lowlands up to middle elevations. In winter it uses advanced secondary growth, tall hedgerows in savannas and farmland, and scrub at forest edges or in forest clearings.

Records are spread across many conservation areas, including Guanacaste, Tempisque, Arenal, Tortuguero, Osa, Pacifico Central, Huetar Norte, Amistad Caribe, Amistad Pacifico and Cordillera Volcanica Central.

When to see it

It is a migrant and winter resident, present from October to April.

Similar birds

The Eastern Whip-poor-will is smaller and greyer, and the two have similar songs and are often confused. It also visits Costa Rica as a migrant and shows more white in the tail than the Chuck-will's-widow, where white is usually not visible. Rufous Nightjar overlaps with it in winter from Costa Rica to Colombia; it is slightly smaller, but the two are otherwise nearly impossible to tell apart.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Besides the official Spanish name Chotacabras de Paso, the bird is also called Chotacabras de la Carolina. One database also lists the name Don Juán for the species.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list gives it the status M, a migrant, and it is usually uncommon to rare here; the IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened.

Photography tips

Use headlights on quiet roads and roadsides at night: the eyes give back a bright orange glow that helps you spot one. By day, expect to find it only by luck, resting motionless on the ground or a horizontal branch.