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Chuck-will's-widow

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Also known as Antrostomus carolinensis, Chuck Will's widow

The '''chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis''') is a nocturnal bird of the nightjar family Caprimulgidae. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States (with disjunct populations in Long Island, New York; Ontario, Canada; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts) near swamps, rocky uplands, and pine woods. It migrates to the West Indies, Central America, and northwestern South America.

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Antrostomus
Image
Caprimulgus carolinensisDF28N01B.jpg
Show 8 more facts
taxon rank
species
IUCN conservation status
Near Threatened
Commons category
Antrostomus carolinensis
taxon name
Antrostomus carolinensis
Commons gallery
Antrostomus carolinensis
taxon common name
noitibó-carolino
short name
A. carolinensis
taxon range
South America
Sources (6)

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Encyclopedic overview

9 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • Description
  • Behavior and ecology
  • Diet
  • Breeding
  • Gallery
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

The '''chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis''') is a nocturnal bird of the nightjar family Caprimulgidae. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States (with disjunct populations in Long Island, New York; Ontario, Canada; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts) near swamps, rocky uplands, and pine woods. It migrates to the West Indies, Central America, and northwestern South America.

==Taxonomy== The chuck-will's-widow 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 carolinensis. Gmelin based his description on those of earlier authors including the "Goat-sucker of Carolina" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands that was published between 1729 and 1732. Chuck-will's-widow is now placed with 11 other species in the genus Antrostomus that was erected by the French naturalist Charles Bonaparte in 1838. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek antron meaning "cavern" and stoma meaning "mouth". The specific epithet carolinensis is from the toponym Carolina. The type locality is South Carolina. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Chuck-will's-widow” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.