Nightjars and Allies
Caprimulgidae
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae, characterized by long wings, short legs and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tale that they sucked the milk from goats (the Latin for goatsucker is Caprimulgus), or bugeaters, due to their insectivore diet. Some New World species are called nighthawks. The English word 'nightjar' originally referred to the European nightjar.
22 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 98 known species
Typical Nighthawks
genusChordeiles
Old World Nightjars
genusCaprimulgus
Typical American Nightjars
genusAntrostomus
Common Pauraque and Scrub Nightjar
genusNyctidromus
Phalaenoptilus
genusPhalaenoptilus
Fork-tailed Nightjars
genusHydropsalis
Band-winged Nightjars
genusSystellura
Small Neotropical Nightjars
genusSetopagis
Australasian Nightjars
genusEurostopodus
Blackish and Pygmy Nightjars
genusNyctipolus
Lyre-tailed and Swallow-tailed Nightjars
genusUropsalis
Short-tailed Nighthawks
genusLurocalis
Neotropical Poorwills
genusNyctiphrynus
Eared Nightjars
genusLyncornis
Gactornis
genusGactornis
Sickle-winged and White-winged Nightjars
genusEleothreptus
Band-tailed and Bahian Nighthawks
genusNyctiprogne
Antiurus
genusAntiurus
Quechuavis
genusQuechuavis
Veles
genusVeles
Caribbean Pauraques
genusSiphonorhis
Tepuiornis
genusTepuiornis
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Caprimulgidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 19376.