Long-tailed nightjar (Uropsalis) from northern Peru (1 Viewer)

[Thibaud]

Hi,

I saw this nightjar one morning at the famous Owlet Lodge, in Amazonas, northern Peru (a little over 2000 masl).
I'd seen a Swallow-tailed Nightjar the night before so I assumed it was the same thing, but now looking at it on my laptop, the rufous nuchal collar and broad silvery brows, and maybe also the pattern of spotting on the wing, seem to make it a better match for Lyre-tailed.
What say the experts?
For the record, both species are regularly recorded from that spot.

For example, my bird looks very much this Lyre-tailed photographed by Dan Lane (one of the authors of Birds of Peru).

ML68636851 - Lyre-tailed Nightjar - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML68636851; © Daniel Lane; Amazonas, Peru

macaulaylibrary.org

Meanwhile, that's a female Swallow-tailed, clearly very different

ML155541871 - Swallow-tailed Nightjar - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML155541871; © Will Chatfield-Taylor; Amazonas, Peru

macaulaylibrary.org

But then we have this, identified as Swallow-tailed, but looking essentially identical to Dan Lane's photo!
So, is there more variation in Swallow-tailed than the book suggests, or is that photo misidentified?

ML222257461 - Swallow-tailed Nightjar - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML222257461; © Dan Rabosky; Amazonas, Peru

macaulaylibrary.org

All 3 photos are from the Owlet lodge as well

Thanks again for any insights!

T

 

[njlarsen]

Take also a look at the outer vane of the elongated tail feathers. I think I see spotting along there but you hopefully can see that clearer on the originals. If so, that should support Swallow-tailed according to two different (non-Peru) field guides I checked.

Niels

 

[KC Foggin]

Lucky for you that you got images of this Nightjar Thibaud!

 

[THE_FERN]

Hi,

I saw this nightjar one morning at the famous Owlet Lodge, in Amazonas, northern Peru (a little over 2000 masl).
I'd seen a Swallow-tailed Nightjar the night before so I assumed it was the same thing, but now looking at it on my laptop, the rufous nuchal collar and broad silvery brows, and maybe also the pattern of spotting on the wing, seem to make it a better match for Lyre-tailed.
What say the experts?
For the record, both species are regularly recorded from that spot.

For example, my bird looks very much this Lyre-tailed photographed by Dan Lane (one of the authors of Birds of Peru).

ML68636851 - Lyre-tailed Nightjar - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML68636851; © Daniel Lane; Amazonas, Peru

macaulaylibrary.org

Meanwhile, that's a female Swallow-tailed, clearly very different

ML155541871 - Swallow-tailed Nightjar - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML155541871; © Will Chatfield-Taylor; Amazonas, Peru

macaulaylibrary.org

But then we have this, identified as Swallow-tailed, but looking essentially identical to Dan Lane's photo!
So, is there more variation in Swallow-tailed than the book suggests, or is that photo misidentified?

ML222257461 - Swallow-tailed Nightjar - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML222257461; © Dan Rabosky; Amazonas, Peru

macaulaylibrary.org

All 3 photos are from the Owlet lodge as well

Thanks again for any insights!

T

Some random thoughts from me...

[#1: you should be banned from posting such things, especially while I'm still stuck in lockdown...]

I think this is lyre-tailed. Yours is male, probably immature. I see: greyish/whitish tips to the elongated outer tail feathers [=lyre-tailed]. I see no evidence of paler/whitish outer feather webs [i.e. not like swallow-tailed]. These tips and some ochre bands are most apparent on the second photo. Dan's photo shows that bands like this are OK.

I also think the dark central crown [relative lack of rufous/ochre tones] are better for lyre-tailed although I saw some [few] Macauley photos labelled swallow-tailed which are similar. Cleere and Nurney's Nightjars suggests that swallow-tailed has "no obvious scapular pattern, hindneck collar or tawny or buff band around the lower throat". This accords with most of what we can see in Macauley images and it's different to your bird.

I suspect that Dan Rabosky's image is mis-identified. It looks more like lyre-tailed to me but there's quite a bit of shake and some details are unclear.

 

[Thibaud]

Thanks for the replies!

Niels, I'm curious about what you mention. Birds of Peru doesn't mention this, only that the outer webs of the elongated tail feather should be either white along the whole length for Swallow-tailed or mostly dark with white tips for Lyre-tailed.

So, on balance, I think THE_FERN is bang on the money (as usual!)

[and if it makes you feel better, France will be in a soft lockdown, meaning no travelling farther than 10km for all of April... So it will be garden birding for me for a while]

 

[njlarsen]

For completeness: this was not so much mentioned but visible on the drawings. In the Colombia book I have there is no text, and I did not really check the text in the Ecuador book either.

Niels

 

[THE_FERN]

For completeness: this was not so much mentioned but visible on the drawings. In the Colombia book I have there is no text, and I did not really check the text in the Ecuador book either.

Niels

I think the drawings are of variable accuracy, Niels. IIRC, the illustrations even in Nightjars don't show all the details. I don't think any of the ones I looked at (Peru, Northern SA, Proaves guide, Nightjars) show the ochre spots on the lyre-tail's tail. When I look at the Ridgely Ecuador plates, the tails of the 2 species almost look switched with more prominent whitish tips on swallow-tailed.