Lurocalis semitorquatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The short-tailed nighthawk (Lurocalis semitorquatus) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Mexico, in every Central American country except El Salvador, in Trinidad and Tobago, and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The short-tailed nighthawk 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 nightjars in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus semitorquatus. Gmelin based his description on "Le petit egoulevent tacheté de Cayenne" that had been described in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. A hand-coloured plate was published separately. The short-tailed nighthawk is now placed with the rufous-bellied nighthawk in the genus Lurocalis that was introduced in 1851 by the American ornithologist John Cassin. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek oura meaning "tail" with kolos meaning "stunted". The specific epithet semitorquatus combines the Latin semi- meaning "half-" or "small" with torquatus... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque das Aves | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Short-tailed Nighthawk sighting in Yasuní National Park on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 401st most-seen of the 533 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Short-tailed Nighthawk in Yasuní National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 5 and 8 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Short-tailed Nighthawk sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
15th of 28
Of the 28 parks where we can rate Short-tailed Nighthawk sightings, Yasuní National Park ranks 15th at under 5%. The best odds are in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 10%), Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 10%) and Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, under 5%).
Same family: Caprimulgidae
The closest relatives of the Short-tailed Nighthawk that you can see in Yasuní National Park (family Caprimulgidae, Nightjars and Allies) are Ladder-tailed Nightjar (about 10%) and Common Pauraque (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Short-tailed Nighthawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Yasuní National Park (42 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.
