Silky-tailed Nightjar

The adult male silky-tailed nightjar has light grey-brown, vermiculated plumage with a strong blackish streak on the top of the head and the nape. It has blackish facial bristles and blackish spots with rufous on the side. Its hind-neck has narrow rufous-tawny half-collar plumage. The mantle, back, rump, and upper tail of a silky-tailed nightjar converts to blackish-brown with irregular patterns of buff and cinnamon. The breast is blackish-brown with short narrow bars of cinnamon and the belly is blackish-brown with blotches and irregular narrow bars of buff. Voice: The two subspecies of silky-tailed nightjar have significantly different songs. That of A. s. sericocaudatus is "a short tonal gliss connecting the two major pitch peaks ree-o-ree." That of A. s. mengeli "has an almost mournful, undulating doh wheo eeo." Both members of a mated pair sing, usually from a low perch or during low flight, and mostly at dawn and dusk.