NightjarsBuff-collared NightjarAntrostomus ridgwayi
- ORDER: Caprimulgiformes
- FAMILY: Caprimulgidae
Basic Description
The Buff-collared Nightjar’s bold cinnamon neck collar and peculiar song—an accelerating, ascending “cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cukacheea”—help set it apart from other camouflaged nightjars in its range. Like other members of their family, these nocturnal foragers use their huge mouths to capture flying insects in the dark. Males sing from low perches, and females lay their eggs directly on the ground. Buff-collared Nightjar inhabits canyons, woodlands, and forests from northern Central America to northwestern Mexico and barely extends into southeastern Arizona.
More ID InfoOther Names
- Chotacabras Tucuchillo (Spanish)
- Engoulevent de Ridgway (French)
- Cool Facts
- Buff-collared Nightjar’s distinctive song has inspired several colorful names for the species, including “cookacheea” and “préstame-tu-cuchillo,” which is Spanish for “lend me your knife.”
- Ornithologists first documented Buff-collared Nightjar in the United States in 1958, in New Mexico. Two years later they found it in neighboring Arizona, where it remains very rare: it is known from fewer than 20 sites in the U.S., and in most years the number of singing birds detected is in single digits.