Winter night swallow
| Winter night swallow | ||||||||||
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Winter Nightjar ( Phalaenoptilus nuttallii ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||
| Phalaenoptilus | ||||||||||
| Ridgway , 1880 | ||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||
| Phalaenoptilus nuttallii | ||||||||||
| ( Audubon , 1844) |
The winter night swallow ( Phalaenoptilus nuttallii ) is the smallest member of the night swallow family in North America . It is the only bird that hibernates .
features
The plumage of the 20 cm long winter night swallow is speckled gray-brown, with white spots on the wings and a white collar. There are long bristles on the short beak. The wings and tail are rounded.
It got its American name “Poorwill” from its reputation, which sounds like “pure will”.
Occurrence
The winter night swallow lives in the western USA, south to Mexico in dry bushland, deserts and open forests.
behavior
In the warmer months, the winter nightjar rests on the ground during the day. At night it hunts flying insects, flying low over the ground or waiting on a hide and aiming at the prey.
In winter, when food is scarce, the winter night swallow looks for a sheltered place, for example in a crevice, and falls there into a kind of rigidity or hibernation. Breathing and heartbeat slow down, the metabolism is reduced and the body temperature drops from 40 to below 10 ° C. It can remain in this state for several weeks until the conditions improve again.
Reproduction
The winter nightjar breeds from late March in the south to late May in the north. She lays two eggs on the bare floor.
Subspecies
Six subspecies of the winter night swallow are commonly recognized:
- P. n. Adustus Van Rossem , 1941 - This subspecies occurs from southern Arizona to northern Mexico.
- P. n. Californicus Ridgway , 1887 - The subspecies is common in western California to northern Baja California .
- P. n. Centralis Moore, RT , 1947 - This subspecies is common in central Mexico.
- P. n. Dickeyi Grinnell , 1928 - This subspecies is found in southern Lower California.
- P. n. Hueyi Dickey , 1928 - The subspecies occurs from south-east California to south-west Arizona.
- P. n. Nuttallii ( Audubon , 1844) - The nominate form is widespread from southwest Canada through the western and western central area of the USA to northern Mexico.
Etymology and history of research
John James Audubon described the winter nightjar under the name Caprimulgus Nuttallii . He collected the type specimen in 1843 on the upper reaches of the Missouri . It was not until 1880 that Robert Ridgway introduced the new genus Phalaenoptilus for this species. This name is made up of the Greek words "phalaina φαλαινα " for "moth, butterfly" and "ptilon πτιλον " for " plumage ". The author dedicated the epithet »nuttallii« to his friend Thomas Nuttall . "Hueyi" was awarded in honor of the zoologist Laurence Markham Huey (1892–1963), who collected the hide together with May Canfield. "Dickeyi" is dedicated to Donald Ryder Dickey, who had previously used the already documented name Phalaenoptilus nuttallii nitidus for another subspecies. "Adustus" is the Latin word for "burned" and is derived from "adurere" for "to kindle". "Californicus" stands for California, the area in which the subspecies occurs. "Centralis" is the Latin word for "center, center" and can also be derived from the Greek "kentron κεντρον " for "point at which the compass is placed, circle center".
literature
- James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
- John James Audubon: The birds of America: from drawings made in the United States and their territories . tape 7 . JB Chevalier, New York 1844 ( online [accessed February 10, 2015]).
- Robert Ridgway: Revisions of Nomenclature of Certain North American Birds . In: Proceedings of the United States National Museum . tape 3 , no. 102 , 1880, pp. 1–16 ( online [accessed February 13, 2015]).
- Robert Ridgway: A manual of North American birds . JB Lippincott company, Philadelphia 1887 ( online [accessed February 10, 2015]).
- Robert Thomas Moore: Two new owls, a swift and a poorwill from Mexico . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 60 , 1947, pp. 141–146 ( online [accessed February 10, 2015]).
- Adriaan Joseph van Rossem: A Race of the Poor-Will From Sonora . In: The Condor . tape 43 , no. 5 , 1941, pp. 247 (English, online [PDF; 98 kB ; accessed on February 10, 2015]).
- Donald Ryder Dickey: A New Poor-Will From the Colorado River Valley . In: The Condor . tape 30 , no. 2 , 1928, p. 152–153 (English, online [PDF; 158 kB ; accessed on February 10, 2015]).
- Joseph Grinnell: Notes on the Systematics of West American Birds. II . In: The Condor . tape 30 , no. 2 , 1928, p. 153–156 (English, online [PDF; 275 kB ; accessed on February 10, 2015]).
Web links
- Phalaenoptilus nuttallii inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- BirdLife International: Species Factsheet - Common Poorwill ( Phalaenoptilus nuttallii ) . Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Common Poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii) in the Internet Bird Collection
- Winter night swallow ( Phalaenoptilus nuttallii ) at Avibase; accessed on February 10, 2015.
- Phalaenoptilus nuttallii in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
- xeno-canto: Sound recordings - Common Poorwill ( Phalaenoptilus nuttallii )
- Common Poorwill photo gallery
Individual evidence
- ↑ IOC World Bird List frogmouths, oilbird, potoos & nightjars
- ^ Adriaan Joseph van Rossem, p. 247.
- ^ A b Robert Ridgway (1887), p. 588.
- ^ Robert Thomas Moore, p. 146.
- ↑ a b Joseph Grinnell, p. 153.
- ^ A b Donald Ryder Dickey, p. 152.
- ^ A b John James Audubon, p. 350, plate 495.
- ^ Robert Ridgway (1880), p. 5.
- ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 301.
- ^ John James Audubon, p. 351.
- ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 32.
- ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 96.