Short-tailed Nighthawk

Short-tailed Nighthawk

Lurocalis semitorquatus

Least ConcernNear ThreatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically Endangered
Daily sighting probability Insufficient data
at Tikal National Park
4 Verified sightings at Tikal National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,816 Verified sightings across all 40 parks From 2019 to 2026
🌅 Crepuscular When it's spotted at dawn and dusk

About the Short-tailed Nighthawk

The short-tailed nighthawk (Lurocalis semitorquatus) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Mexico, in every Central American country except El Salvador, in Trinidad and Tobago, and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.

The short-tailed nighthawk 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 nightjars in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus semitorquatus. Gmelin based his description on "Le petit egoulevent tacheté de Cayenne" that had been described in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. A hand-coloured plate was published separately. The short-tailed nighthawk is now placed with the rufous-bellied nighthawk in the genus Lurocalis that was introduced in 1851 by the American ornithologist John Cassin. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek oura meaning "tail" with kolos meaning "stunted". The specific epithet semitorquatus combines the Latin semi- meaning "half-" or "small" with torquatus... Wikipedia →

Closest Relatives at Tikal National Park

Common Pauraque
LC Endemic

Common Pauraque

🌅 Crepuscular Bird

Nyctidromus albicollis

Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
Yucatán Poorwill
LC

Yucatán Poorwill

☀️🌙 Day & Night Bird

Nyctiphrynus yucatanicus

Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
Lesser Nighthawk
LC

Lesser Nighthawk

🌅 Crepuscular Bird

Chordeiles acutipennis

Daily sighting probability Insufficient data
Common Nighthawk
LC

Common Nighthawk

🌅 Crepuscular Bird

Chordeiles minor

Daily sighting probability Insufficient data

Global Distribution

Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.

where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is)  ·  parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Bastimentos Island National Marine Park 🇵🇦 Panama
~10%
2 Iguazú National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~10%
3 Anavilhanas National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
4 Brownsberg Nature Park 🇸🇷 Suriname
<5%
5 Itatiaia National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
6 La Amistad International Park (Panama) 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%
7 Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve 🇲🇽 Mexico
<5%
8 Iguaçu National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
9 Tortuguero National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
10 Corcovado National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
11 Madidi National Park 🇧🇴 Bolivia
<5%
12 Caroni Swamp 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
<5%
13 Yasuní National Park 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%
14 Serra dos Órgãos National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
15 Darién National Park 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%
16 Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%
17 Tambopata National Reserve 🇵🇪 Peru
<5%
18 Chapada dos Guimarães National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
19 Chapada Diamantina National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
20 Tenorio Volcano National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
21 Amacayacu National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
22 Soberanía National Park 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%
23 Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
24 Piedras Blancas National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
25 Cordillera Azul National Park 🇵🇪 Peru
<5%
26 Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
27 Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
28 Braulio Carrillo National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
29 Carara National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
30 Arenal Volcano National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
<5%
31 Emas National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
Insufficient data
32 Pico Bonito National Park 🇭🇳 Honduras
Insufficient data
33 Henri Pittier National Park 🇻🇪 Venezuela
Insufficient data
34 Manuel Antonio National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Insufficient data
35 Serra da Canastra National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
Insufficient data
36 Chagres National Park 🇵🇦 Panama
Insufficient data
37 Cahuita National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Insufficient data
38 Parque Natural Metropolitano 🇵🇦 Panama
Insufficient data
39 Tikal National Park 🇬🇹 Guatemala
Insufficient data
40 Marino Ballena National Park 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Insufficient data
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