White-tailed Nightjar

How to find it

Look in open or semi-open country on the Pacific slope, such as savanna, scrub, open woodland and forest edge. Dusk and after dark are the best times, because the bird sits on the ground by day. Watch for one taking off from open bare ground after insects. Since it calls so little, do not count on hearing it. It is also at least local or occasional on parts of the Caribbean slope. A night search from a roadside in grassland near the Tárcoles bridge found Double-striped Thick-knees calling instead, a fair reminder of how hard it can be.

How to recognise it

This is a small, slim nightjar, and both sexes show the orange-brown collar on the nape. Males and females look quite different.

The male:

- Upperparts are contrasty and underparts pale.

- Bold buffy shoulder straps and rows of white spots on the wing coverts.

- A long tail with whiter feathers, except the central pair.

- An undertail that is white with a dark band near the base.

- A white band across the primaries.

The female is patterned in cryptic tones, with a barred breast and a barred undertail rather than a plain white one. In flight she shows buffy bands on the primaries, not white ones, and she keeps the tawny collar.

Behaviour and diet

The White-tailed Nightjar is strictly nocturnal. By day it rests on the ground under low vegetation, which is why it is usually seen only after dark.

At night it hunts by flying up from open bare ground to catch flying insects such as beetles, moths, dragonflies and wasps or bees. It sometimes hunts at dusk over scrub.

Nesting has been noted in Costa Rica, where fledglings just out of the nest were seen in May.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is a resident of the Pacific slope, widespread but patchy, from northern Guanacaste southward. That includes the Térraba and Golfo Dulce regions. On the southern two thirds of the Caribbean slope it is only sporadic.

It ranges from sea level up to about 800 m. Across its wider range, from Costa Rica to northwest Ecuador and northern Brazil, it is a common bird of savannas, pastures and forest clearings, up to roughly 1000 m.

When to see it

Recently fledged chicks have been seen in Costa Rica in May. The adults are active at dusk and after dark.

Similar birds

The male's broad white band across the primaries looks like the one on a Lesser Nighthawk. The nightjar is told apart by its cinnamon collar on the hindneck and its notched tail, mostly white underneath. Nighthawks have slimmer bodies and pointed wings and also show white wing bars, but the pale nape collar helps separate the White-tailed Nightjar from both.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR Spanish name is Chotacabras Coliblanco. Other names used across its range, not specific to Costa Rica, include chotacabra blanca, guabairo coliblanco, tapacamino coliblanco and guardacaminos rastrojero.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list (AOCR) marks it as a resident, and globally it is rated Least Concern.

Photography tips

Open bare ground at dusk is where it launches after insects, so that is the place to wait. By day it hides on the ground under low vegetation, so photography belongs to dusk and after dark.