Second Record of Ocellated Poorwill Nyctiphrynus Ocellatus For
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Cotinga 34 Short Communications Second record of Ocellated visible. We identified the bird humid and wet lowland forest, Poorwill Nyctiphrynus ocellatus as a male based on its overall evergreen rainforest and dense for Nicaragua and third record dark greyish-brown (not rufous) second growth, which is consistent for Costa Rica coloration3. with the habitat at Refugio Ocellated Poorwill Nyctiphrynus At the site where we first Bartola, as is his description of ocellatus is known in Nicaragua encountered the bird, KS heard the species’ vocal behaviour: ‘Sings from a single specimen collected another individual on the opposite from a low perch in forest interior in 19095, and it has been recorded bank of the río San Juan, i.e. or along forest edges’. 4 elsewhere in Central America in Costa Rica. A third bird may Martínez-Sánchez considered just a handful of times in the past have also been calling several Ocellated Poorwill a rare vagrant century. During a March 2011 hundred metres further downriver to cloud forests in Nicaragua’s visit to Refugio Bartola on the río on the Nicaraguan side. Thus, northern mountains at 800–1,000 San Juan in south-east Nicaragua, at least two birds, and probably m. His inclusion of this species we observed, photographed three, were heard in the same in the checklist of birds of (Fig. 1) and sound-recorded a area. This suggests males on Nicaragua is based on a single male Ocellated Poorwill. It was territories rather than migrants, specimen collected by Richardson initially heard at c.21h00 on 16 which theoretically could vocalise. at Peñas Blancas (Jinotega) on 5 6 March 2011, c.400 m north of Our efforts to relocate the birds June 1909 . Nonetheless, it has the cabins at Refugio Bartola on subsequent evenings were been speculated that the species (10°58.373’N 84°20.348’W; 60 m), frustrated by rain and / or overcast is probably a rare permanent 5 calling persistently from dense skies. resident there . The specimen’s second growth c.10 m from the Two subspecies of Ocellated label gives no indication of east bank of the río San Juan. Poorwill are recognised: N. altitude, habitat or gonad size. 6 The bird called from the same o. ocellatus has a large range Miller & Griscom described it as location for almost 30 minutes but in South America, over most a new species, N. lautus, which was not seen despite playback. of Brazil, north to south-west is now considered a subspecies 9 It eventually moved 200 m north Colombia and south to north-east of ocellatus. Thereafter, Stiles into more closed forest, where we Argentina; and the poorly known obtained a male in breeding 3 found it perched c.1.5 m above N. o. lautus of Central America . condition in Costa Rica on 28 3 the ground using a spotlight. The Cleere described it as mainly a March 1988 that he referred to N. night was overcast although the lowland species of small, shady o. lautus. nearly full moon was occasionally clearings and the understorey of Figure 1. Male Ocellated Poorwill Nyctiphrynus ocellatus, Refugio Bartola, Nicaragua, 16 March 2011 (Robert L. Batchelder) 90 Cotinga 34 Short Communications More recently, N. ocellatus was Atlantic slope lowland forests of and related nightbirds. documented in eastern Honduras northern Costa Rica, Nicaragua Robertsbridge: Pica Press. in 19971, and in north-central and eastern Honduras, where the 4. Martínez-Sánchez, J. C. (2007) Costa Rica in 20078. There is also few documented records suggest Lista patrón de las aves a single, unconfirmed record from resident populations. de Nicaragua. Managua: central Panama, based on a sight Our observation is only the Alianza para las Áreas record of a bird ‘believed seen on second documented record of N. Silvestres. Achiote Road on Caribbean side of ocellatus for Nicaragua and the 5. Martínez-Sánchez, J. C. & Canal area on March 15, 1978’7. first in more than 100 years. The Will, T. (eds.) (2010) Thomas Interestingly, Stiles’ specimen was bird heard on the opposite bank R. Howell’s Check-list of collected near Brasilia de Upala of the río San Juan represents the birds of Nicaragua as of in Costa Rica’s Alajuela province, the third report for Costa Rica. 1993. Orn. Monogr. 68. c.100 km west of Refugio Bartola, Together these observations 6. Miller, W. De W. & Griscom, in the north-west corner of the apparently also represent only the L. (1925) Descriptions of new same Atlantic slope drainage that sixth record in southern Central birds from Nicaragua. Amer. feeds Lake Nicaragua and the río America. Additional photographs Mus. Novit. 159: 1–2. San Juan. The most recent Costa and a sound-recording of the bird 7. Ridgely, R. S. & Gwynne, J. A. Rican record, a bird heard on 13 at Refugio Bartola can be found at (1989) A guide to the birds February 2007 by C. Sánchez, http://www.nicabirds.com. of Panama, with Costa Rica, is from Finca Las Crucitas, Nicaragua, and Honduras. San Carlos, Alajuela (10°52’N Acknowledgements Second edn. Princeton, NJ: 84°19’W), just 12 km south of our We thank Liliana Chavarría for Princeton University Press. record. her encouragement and expertise 8. Sandoval, L., Sánchez, C., Based on observations in in Nicaraguan avifauna; Juan Biamonte, E., Zook, J. R., eastern Honduras, in 1997 Carlos Martínez-Sánchez for Sánchez, J. E., Martínez, near Las Marias along the río pointing us to relevant literature; D., Loth, D. & O’Donahoe, Plátano (15°38’N 84°48’W), and and Luis Sandoval and Nigel J. (2010) Recent records of in 1999 near Krausirpe (15°02’N Cleere for their constructive new and rare bird species in 84°52’W), including females on feedback on the submitted Costa Rica. Bull. Brit. Orn. nests, Anderson1 concluded that manuscript. Club 130: 237–245. Ocellated Poorwill is probably 9. Stiles, F. G. (1988) Notes on References a ‘common resident of mature the distribution and status of lowland moist forest’. He further 1. Anderson, D. L. (2000) certain birds in Costa Rica. speculated that, given how little Notes on the breeding, Condor 90: 931–933. ornithological work has been distribution, and taxonomy undertaken in the Mosquitia of of the Ocellated Poorwill Robert L. Batchelder eastern Honduras and north-east (Nyctiphrynus ocellatus) in Unit 3240 Box, DPO AA 34021, Nicaragua, ‘further study may Honduras. Orn. Neotrop. 11: USA. E-mail: batchelder@yahoo. likely reveal a broader distribution 233–238. com. and breeding range for this species 2. Anderson, D. A., Bonta, M. & Klemens Steiof in Nicaragua than is presently Thorn, P. (1998) New and Wattstr. 4, D-14482, Potsdam, known’1. noteworthy bird records from Germany. E-mail: [email protected]. Given the species’ apparent Honduras. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club 118: 178–183. propensity for dense second Received 14 September growth and forest interior, its 3. Cleere, N. (1998) Nightjars: a guide to the nightjars 2011; final revision accepted presence has probably gone 20 December 2011 (published largely undetected in the moist online 10 March 2012) 91.