Puerto Rican Nightjar

• It was described in 1916 from bones found in a cave and from a single skin specimen taken in 1888, and was given up for extinct until it was seen alive in 1961.
• Its current population, of 1,400 to 2,000 birds, is roughly the same as was estimated in 1984.
• Its song consists of rapid whip-like notes, which is where its English name, Puerto Rican whip-poor-will, comes from.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Dry coastal scrub forest in localised parts of south-western Puerto Rico, above all in the Guánica State Forest and its surroundings. It breeds mainly in subtropical dry forest (60% of the squares), and also in subtropical moist forest at higher altitudes

Birth weight

Semi-altricial: born covered in down and with its eyes open

Size at birth

Semi-altricial: covered in cryptic down on hatching

Sexual maturity

1 year

Gestation / incubation

18-20 days. The chicks fledge two weeks after hatching

Litter / clutch size

1-2 pale brown eggs speckled with darker markings, laid directly on a thick layer of leaf litter, often under a low shrub. It breeds from December to August, with peak activity in May

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List 2016 (BirdLife International, e.T22689809A93248623) · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (perfil de especie) · Vilella 1995, Bird Conservation International 5 · González 2010 · Cleere y Nurney 1998, Nightjars · Raffaele et al. 1998 · Wetmore 1919

Best time: At twilight, from February to May, when its breeding activity is at its height

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.