Antrostomus rufus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The rufous nightjar (Antrostomus rufus) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
The rufous nightjar was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle that was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Caprimulgas rufus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The rufous nightjar is now placed in the genus Antrostomus that was erected by the French naturalist Charles Bonaparte in 1838. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek antron meaning "cavern" and stoma meaning "mouth". The specific epithet is Latin for "red".
Four or five subspecies are generally recognized. A. r.... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amboró National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 2 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Coiba National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 6 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 7 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 10 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 11 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maceió | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 3 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous Nightjar sighting in El Impenetrable National Park on a given day, based on 22 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 196th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous Nightjar in El Impenetrable National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–August and November, the lowest months. December has too few records to rate.
Between midnight and 3 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous Nightjar sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
5th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Rufous Nightjar sightings, El Impenetrable National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Amboró National Park (Bolivia, about 20%), Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (Brazil, about 10%) and Coiba National Park (Panama, about 10%).
Same family: Caprimulgidae
The closest relatives of the Rufous Nightjar that you can see in El Impenetrable National Park (family Caprimulgidae, Nightjars and Allies) are Scissor-tailed Nightjar (about 20%) and Little Nightjar (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous Nightjar is recorded against all the birds logged in El Impenetrable National Park (22 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
