Order
Caprimulgiformes
Family
Caprimulgidae
Genus
Hydropsalis
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Scissor-tailed Nightjar Hydropsalis torquata

Max Witynski
Version: 1.0 — Published February 20, 2015

Distribution

Distribution in the Americas

Scissor-tailed Nightjar occurs in South America, east of the Andes, from eastern Peru (locally, north to southwestern Loreto and Junín) south to eastern Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and central Argentina (south to Mendoza), and east to northeastern Brazil. There also is an isolated population on the Sipalwini savanna, Suriname, where it is believed to breed (Haverschmidt and Mees 1994, Ottema et al. 2009). Scissor-tailed Nightjar is assumed to be resident in most of its range, but is described as migratory in the southern portion of its range (Short 1975); the extent of migration in this species, however, is not well documented. Apparently largely disappears from Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, in the southern winter, but even there some may remain year round (Belton 1984). Apparently Scissor-tailed Nightjar is resident in Andean foothills in Peru, but it is suspected to be only an austral migrant at lower elevations in southeastern Peru (Schulenberg et al. 2010). Hennessey et al. (2003) suggest that Scissor-tailed Nightjar may be an austral migrant to Bolivia.

Generally the elevational range of Scissor-tailed Nightjar is from the lowlands up to 1100 m (Parker et al. 1996), but in Peru it occurs locally up to 1700 m (Schulenberg et al. 2010), and even to 2700 m in Bolivia (Hennessey et al. 2003).

Distribution outside the Americas

Endemic to the Americas.

Habitat

Scissor-tailed Nightjar typically occupies open or semi-open habitats such as second growth scrub, arid scrub (including espinilho parkland), campo grasslands, seasonally wet grasslands, eucalytpus and acacia groves, forest borders, pastures, and urban parks (Belton 1984, Sick 1993, Stotz et al. 1996, Gwynne et al. 2010, Schulenberg et al. 2010). Has adapted to man-induced habitat changes in some areas, and now often occurs on roads in semiopen zones, especially at borders or even into sugar cane fields, for instance at Rio Claro (São Paulo, Brazil), as scattered birds or even in small groups (Ingels et al. 1999).

Historical changes

None reported.

Fossil history

None reported.

Distribution of the Scissor-tailed Nightjar - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Scissor-tailed Nightjar

Recommended Citation

Witynski, M. (2015). Scissor-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis torquata), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.sctnig2.01