Antrostomus carolinensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) is a nocturnal bird of the nightjar family Caprimulgidae. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States (with disjunct populations in Long Island, New York; Ontario, Canada; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts) near swamps, rocky uplands, and pine woods. It migrates to the West Indies, Central America, and northwestern South America.
The chuck-will's-widow was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other nightjars in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus carolinensis. Gmelin based his description on those of earlier authors including the "Goat-sucker of Carolina" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands that was published between 1729 and 1732. Chuck-will's-widow is now placed with 11 other species 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... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 4 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque Zoológico Miguel Ángel de Quevedo | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Chuck-will's-widow sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 29 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 234th most-seen of the 279 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Chuck-will's-widow in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Chuck-will's-widow sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
8th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Chuck-will's-widow sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 8th at under 5%. The best odds are in Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 10%), Everglades National Park (United States, under 5%) and Big Cypress National Preserve (United States, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Chuck-will's-widow is recorded against all the birds logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (29 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.
