Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Identification of this bird has been concerning me since its observation, nearly a year ago as I write this description. Initially my thoughts were that the bird could be a female Lyre-tailed Nightjar, which occurs at this site, but no photos I found seemed to show the correct distribution of spotting on the coverts that this bird shows. However, due to other features ruling out other nightjars that I had found to occur at this region (the lack of tail band and patterning for Band-winged Nightjar & incorrect colour for Swallow-tailed Nightjar) I decided that the bird must be a Lyre-tailed by a process of elimination I have revisited this bird many times and always been left dissatisfied with the identification. However, using eBird data to check species occurring in the region, and being resolute in my identification that the bird was a nightjar had meant I had always overlooked other similar species that could be plausible. When I found Chuck-wills-Widow I was pleased to find that the dark spots on the coverts match perfectly with those of the bird photographed here. The white spots on the Lesser Coverts do seem to be lacking in this bird, but the presence of at least two white spots in the same region suggests that the reason the full band is not visible could be due to moult. The elongated head shape, white neck collar and the pattern on the undertail coverts support this identification. The lack of patterning visible in the tail suggests that this is a female. I am now, finally, 100% satisfied that this is the correct identification of this bird.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D Mark II
- Lens
- EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III
- ISO
- 3200
- Focal length
- 255 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/7.1
- Shutter speed
- 0.01 sec
- Dimensions
- 5472 pixels x 3648 pixels
- Original file size
- 3.33 MB