ID Please.

[Chris Baker]

Hi,

I've failed to come up with an ID for this one. I've tried Birdfellow, Sibley and Ibird without success, can anyone help please. It was taken on South Padre Island Texas in April this year, the US birder who kindly put me on to this thought it was a Pauraque but I can't make it fit. Any help much appreciated

Regards

CB

[Chris Harrison]

That is a juvenile Nighthawk, probably a Lesser Nighthawk.

[Rick Poulin]

I agree with Chris it is a Nighhawk. Whitout knowing if Lessers breed on South Padre I would have called this an adult female Common or Lesser not a juvenile.


As Chris is from Texas I will defer to his local knowledge.

[Paul Guris]

It's a nighthawk, but I can't ID it to species. Chris, do you happen to have another shot that is more from the side? Some of the important marks are the position of the white bar across the primaries (not visible in your photo), extent of white across the outermost primary (p10), relative length of two outermost primaries (p9 and p10), and the length/shape of the primaries (foreshortened with the angle in this image). A straight side view that shows the white bar might go a long way to calling this to species. The big, pale spots on the wing coverts lean me a bit towards Lesser, but I wouldn't ID it on that one mark.

Here's an excellent article on New Jersey's first record of Lesser Nighthawk by Michael O'Brien that contains great information on separation of the two species:
<cite>www.njaudubon.org/Portals/10/Research/PDF/NJBsum08.pdf</cite> (http://www.njaudubon.org/Portals/10/Research/PDF/NJBsum08.pdf)

[Chris Baker]

Thanks for your assistance Guys and attached side view as requested - cheers Paul. My best GUESS was Lesser but with it being squat it makes it a tad difficille!!

[Paul Guris]

Looking at the side view and using Michael O'Brien's excellent article for ID criteria (and being careful since he addresses males), I would call this a Lesser Nighthawk because:

On the far wing where we see the underside of the primaries, p10 is obviously shorter than p9.
On the near wing we can see p10 disappearing behind p9, also showing that it is shorter or at most the same length.
The pale bar across the wing aligns with p5 and extends beyond the tertials (the longest gray mottled feathers).
Large white and buffy spots on the wing.
Primaries appear broad.


"That's just my opinion. I could be wrong." --Dennis Miller (back when he was funny)

[Rick Poulin]

I agree Lesser!

It also appears to be a female based on the wing bar being buffy (P9) a definitive field mark of Lesser.

[Chris Baker]

Thank you all for your time and expertise, much appreciated, i'll wait a while before I put forward the female Hummers !!:S3::S3:

Regards CB

[Dave Irons]

Chris,

I'm happy to see that you sought out BirdFellow as a resource. I can see that we definitely need to find some more images of Lesser Nighthawks. Starting from the beginning and what you posted. This bird is clearly not a Common Pauraque based on the relationship between the tail and wing lengths. Pauraques are comparatively short-winged and long-tailed, thus at rest the wingtips come up well short of the tip of the tail. As others have suggested it is most assuredly a nighthawk. Given that the image was taken in April, I think it is safe to assume that it is not a "juvenile." If this were a hatch-year bird of either the expected N.A. nighthawks (Lesser or Common) it would represent and very early nesting record. Juvenile Common Nighthawks, generally considered less buffy than Lesser Nighthawk, are still usually more buffy than your bird.

From here, I'm stuck like the others. Based on the general paleness of the bird and the amount of buff in the wing coverts, I would lean towards Lesser. It seems that Common Nighthawks show more contrasting plumage (darker browns juxtaposed against more white or near white) in Spring. I see a fair number of Common each year in Oregon, where I live, but we don't get Lessers and I've not spent a lot of time in places where they are abundant.

Dave Irons

[Bob Pelkey]

A difficult species to identify indeed. Beautiful images, Chris, with appreciation for the fact you got the images from the angle you did with the bird also perched in a natural setting.