White-tailed Nightjar
Photo © William Stephens
Photo © William Stephens — CC BY 4.0 — Source: iNaturalist photo #63558833The white-tailed nightjar (Hydropsalis cayennensis) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in the tropic regions of Central and South America. == Taxonomy == The white-tailed nightjar was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other nightjars in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus cayennensis. Gmelin based his description on "L'engoulevent varié de Cayenne" that was described in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. A hand-coloured illustration was also published. Based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Kin-Lan Han and collaborators published in 2010, the white-tailed nightjar is now placed with three other species in the genus Hydropsalis. This genus was introduced in 1832 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek hudro- meaning "water-" with psalis meaning "pair of scissors". The specific epithet cayennensis is from Cayenne, French Guiana, the type locality. Six subspecies are recognised: H. c. albicauda (Lawrence, 1875) – Costa Rica to north Colombia H. c. aperta (Peters, JL, 1940) –…
Guanacaste National Park
Santa Elena, Costa Rica
+461 birds+17 mammals
Where the Pacific slopes of northwestern Costa Rica rise toward the Continental Divide, dry tropical forest gives way to cloud-laden peaks and misty ridges—a landscape that…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Serranía de los Yariguíes National Park
El Carmen de Chucurí, Colombia
+320 birds+3 mammals
Where the northern cordilleras of Colombia rise toward cloud forest, the Serranía de los Yariguíes unfolds across nearly 1,820 square kilometers of some of the most…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Farallones de Cali National Park
Buenaventura, Colombia
+733 birds+27 mammals
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VIEW NATIONAL PARKMorrocoy National Park
Municipio Silva
+290 birds
Where the Caribbean coast of northwestern Venezuela meets protected coastal waters, a mosaic of mangrove forests, sandy beaches, and coral reef systems defines Morrocoy National Park.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPuracé National Natural Park
Puracé, Colombia
+327 birds+2 mammals
Where the Andes thrust upward across southwestern Colombia, Puracé National Natural Park spans nearly 2,631 square kilometers of some of South America's most dramatic montane terrain.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Sierra de la Macarena National Park
Vista Hermosa, Colombia
+566 birds+15 mammals
Across nearly 20,000 square kilometres of Colombia's Meta Department, the terrain rises from lowland savanna into Andean foothills through a mosaic of gallery forests, palm-fringed wetlands,…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKViruá National Park
Brazil
+389 birds+6 mammals
Across the northern frontier of Roraima, where the forest canopy rises from ancient Amazonian lowlands, Viruá National Park protects nearly 3,700 square kilometres of terra firme…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPalo Verde National Park
Bagaces, Costa Rica
+318 birds+24 mammals
Dry forest spreads across Palo Verde's low-lying terrain in northwestern Guanacaste, where seasonal rivers and lagoons etch through deciduous woodland that sheds its canopy each winter.…
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