Aves da Pátria da Leari - Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia

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Aves da Pátria da Leari
white tip at the end of its tail. During the day, the birds sleep in little shrubs in open areas. They lay their eggs
on the ground in the shade.
Chordeiles acutipennis acutipennis (Hermann, 1783)
Lesser Nighthawk
This bird has long, narrow wings with a V-shaped white stripe. The females are white-throated. The male has
a stripe at the end of its tail and usually flies at very high altitudes at dusk. It feeds on termites and ants.
Nyctidromus albicollis albicollis (Gmelin, 1789)
Pauraque
It’s one of the best known nightjars in the Caatinga and occurs in open areas or within forests. They can often
be seen at night looking for food on roads, especially dirt tracks. The male has a white stripe on its wing and
the external tail feathers are also white but only visible when the bird is flying. They lay one eggs amid dry
leaves on the ground and the chick is born with a brown plumage. We designed an experiment to see whether
the parents were capable of carrying the chick to some other location were it to be discovered predators. We
put a small wooden fence about 15 centimeters high around a very immature chick still in its nest and observed
it for two weeks. The parents continued to feed the chick within the fence until it was able to fly. This proved
that the parents were incapable of transporting their chick. What in fact happens is that if a person or animal
discovers the nest, the parents will flee and then call in attempts to try and lure the chick to safety. But since
the chick’s coloration is a perfect camouflage, it is rare that their hiding place is discovered. Measurements:
Total length 275mm, wing 160mm, tail 144mm, tarsus 29mm, beak 11mm, weight 56g/63g.
Caprimulgus rufus rufus (Boddaert, 1783)
Rufous Nightjar
This is a large species and lives on forest edges and perches on the trunks and branches of trees. This has
not been a very common species during our banding campaigns. Despite the frequency of hearing the rufous
nightjar call, the species jar that most often gets caught in the mist nets is the pauraque (N. albicollis).
Hydropsalis torquata torquata (Gmelin, 1798)
Long-trained Nightjar)
This is a fairly common species that even can occur in cities. The male has a long, scissor tail, a characteristic
important for correct identification. The females and juveniles’ tails are also forked but much shorter. During
the day the bird lives hidden in the middle of the vegetation and in shaded areas.
Caprimulgus parvulus parvulus (Gould, 1837)