Scissor-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis torquata)
About the Scissor-tailed Nightjar
The scissor-tailed nightjar (Hydropsalis torquata) is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is distributed over much of eastern South America. The scissor-tailed nightjar 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 the other nightjars in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus torquatus. The scissor-tailed nightjar is now placed with three other species in the genus Hydropsalis that was introduced in 1832 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek hudro- meaning "water-" with psalis meaning "pair of scissors". The specific epithet torquata is from Latin torquatus meaning "collared".
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 100 recordings for this species: 61 CC BY-NC-SA · 1 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Other birds you can hear here
- American Barn OwlTyto furcatarecording
- Ash-throated CrakeMustelirallus albicollisrecording
- BananaquitCoereba flaveolarecording
- Barred AntshrikeThamnophilus doliatusrecording
- Barred Forest FalconMicrastur ruficollisrecording
- Black Hawk-EagleSpizaetus tyrannusrecording
These are the birds recorded alongside it, not close relatives — the site holds no other member of its genus or family yet.