Common Pauraque

Nyctidromus albicollisOrder: CAPRIMULGIFORMES Family: Nighthawks and Nightjars (Caprimulgidae)

Codes: Common Name: COPA Scientific Name: NYCALB ITIS Taxonomic No.: 177975

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Common Pauraque

Common Pauraque: Medium nightjar with dark-streaked, mottled gray upperparts, white throat, black chin, rufous face, pale gray-brown underparts. Wings have brown and black bars, white band at base of primaries visible in flight. The gray tail is long, with dark edges and white patches.

● Song: "puc, puc, puc, puc p'weeEER", "wheet wheet wheeeer"

● Foraging & Feeding: Common Pauraque: Feeds on insects; forages in flight close to ground; sometimes forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Common Pauraque: Two buff to pale pink eggs, marked with small red brown spots, are laid on the bare ground near a bush or tree. Incubation ranges from 19 to 20 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Common Pauraque: Common and Lesser nighthawks have long pointed wings, long, notched tails, and different voices.

Flight Pattern

Flies low on slowly beating wings, darts erratically, changing courses.

Common Pauraque Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Common Pauraque: Resident from extreme southern Texas to the American tropics; frequents semi-open scrub country with thickets and woodland clearings.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight1.8 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Common Pauraque

Common Pauraque

Flight Pattern