Appearance

Nightjars are cryptically patterened nocturnal birds, usually in shades of grays and browns. Greater Antillean Nightjar is a medium-sized nightjar endemic to Cuba and Hispaniola. The upperparts and wing coverts are blackish brown, speckled with grayish white, grayish brown, and buff. The crown of the subspecies on Hispaniola is broadly streaked with black. This nightjar lacks a collar on the hindneck, and has no white or tawny band across the primaries. There is a narrow, indistinct band of cinnamon buff spots across the lower throat. The underparts are dark brown, speckled and spotted with buffish white. The undertail coverts are plain buff or tawny buff. The three outermost pairs of rectrices of the male are broadly tipped with white, these white tips being particularly broad in the subspecies on Hispaniola; the tips of the rectrices of the female are buffy.

Chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) is a winter resident in the Greater Antilles, including both Cuba and Hispaniola. Chuck-will's-widow is larger, paler, and more reddish than Greater Antillean Nightjar, and has much less white in the tail. Antillean Nighthawk (Chordeiles gundlachii) and Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) both have a bold white band on the outer underside of the wing, which nightjars lack; nighthawks also are less strictly nocturnal than the nightjar, and have very different vocalizations and foraging behavior. Least Paraque (Siphonorhis brewsteri), which is restricted to Hispaniola, is smaller and paler than the nightjar, and has narrow white tips to all of the rectrices.

The following description is based on Cleere (1998), and refers to nominate cubanensis (see also Ridgway 1914); for other subspecies, see Geographic Variation:

Adult male: Forecrown, crown, and nape are dark brown, speckled withgrayish white and pale buff, and broadly streaked with blackish brown. There is no collar on the hind neck. The mantle, back, and rump are dark brown, finely speckled with grayish brown. The uppertail coverts are similar but the speckling is whitish. The tail is brown. The three outermost pairs of rectrices (R5-R3) are broadly (35-65 mm) tipped with white or with white-tinged buff, usually more extensive on the outer webs; R2 sometimes also tipped with some white. The central pair of tail feathers are densely mottled with very broad grayish brown chevrons. The scapulars are buffish white with speckled brown, and boldly spotted blackish brown on the tips. The wing coverts are dark brown finely speckled and lightly spotted with pale buff. The primaries are brown, spotted with tawny or pale tawny along the outer webs, faintly and indistinctly barred tawny or pale tawny on the inner webs; the inner primaries and all the secondaries are indistinctly mottled buffish brown. The tertials are brown and densely mottled pale buff, with the centers broadly streaked with brown. The lores and auriculars are tawny, speckled with dark brown. The chin and the throat are dark brown, finely speckled with cinnamon. There is a narrow, indistinct band of cinnamon/buff spots across the lower throat. The breast is dark brown, finely speckled buffish-white with large buffish white spots. The belly and flanks are dark brown speckled with gray. The undertail coverts are plain buff. The underwing coverts are buff and barred with brown.

Adult female: Similar to adult male but the tips of the outer rectrices (R5-R3) are broadly (15 mm) buff, not white.

Chick, juvenile, and immature: Not known.

Undescribed; presumably follows the Complex Basic molt strategy.

Iris: brown, dark brown

Bill:Blackish

Tarsi and toes:brown, brownish

Bare parts data from Ridgway (1914) and Cleere (1998).

Total length: 25-29.5 cm (cubanensis; Cleere 1998), 26-30 cm (ekmani; Cleere 1998)

Linear measurements:

cubanensis, male

wing length: mean 180.7 mm (range 176-185 mm, n = 7; Garrido 1983)

tail length: mean 132.2 mm (range 129-142 mm, n = 6; Garrido 1983)

bill length: range 17.7-19.1 mm (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

tarsus length: range 19.1-19.6 mm (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

cubanensis, female

wing length: mean 179.1 mm (range 174-183 mm, n = 7; Garrido 1983)

tail length: mean 130.4 mm (range 126-133 mm, n = 7; Garrido 1983)

bill length: range 17.6-20.6 mm (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

tarsus length: range 18.0-19.5 mm (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

ekmani, male

wing length: 173 mm, 180 mm (n =2; Garrido 1983)

tail length: mean 143 mm (n = 1; Garrido 1983)

bill length: range 18.2-20.0 mm (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

tarsus length: range 17.1-18.8 mm (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

ekmani, female

wing length: mean 143.7 mm (range 175-181 mm, n = 3; Garrido 1983)

tail length: mean 136.7 mm (range 130-145 mm, n = 3; Garrido 1983)

bill length: 18.8 mm (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

tarsus length: 17.1 (n = ?; Cleere 1998)

Mass:

cubanensis, male: mean 76.0 g ± 7.6 g (range 65.0-82.0, n = 4; Garrido and Reynard 1998)

cubanensis, female: mean 70.0 g (n = 1; Garrido and Reynard 1998)