Long-trained Nightjar Macropsalis forcipata Scientific name definitions

The Long-trained Nightjar is endemic to southeast Brazil, where it easily is the most spectacular nightjar in its range. Its long tail is graduated, with greatly elongated outmost rectrices that are frosted with white. This tail is used in a terrestrial courtship display in which the male puffs out his throat and raises his tail at a right angle to create a conspicuous V. The male also hovers around a perched female with his tail spread out. The diet and foraging behavior of the Long-trained Nightjar are poorly studied.

28–31 cm (excluding outer tail feathers of male, which reach 48–68 cm in length). Sexually dimorphic  . Upperparts brown, spotted and barred greyish-brown, tawny, buff and cinnamon; broad tawny or tawny-buff nuchal collar; lesser coverts brown, barred or spotted tawny, rest of wing-coverts  brown, boldly spotted tawny and buff; shows buffish line along scapulars; no white submous­tachial stripe, faint throat  patch tawny; underparts brown, barred and scalloped tawny and buff, becoming buff barred brown on belly and flanks. Both sexes lack white markings on wings. Male has greatly elongated  outermost tail feathers  , broadly edged whitish  on inner webs  ; female has shorter, darker tail  . Iris brown, bill blackish, legs and feet brown. Larger, darker and longer-winged than Hydropsalis torquata, and male has much longer tail . Larger than Uropsalis lyra, with well-marked scapular pattern, but throat band much fainter; male has shorter, paler tail. Larger and more variegated than Uropsalis segmentata, with prominent scapular pattern and nuchal collar; male shows much more white in tail. Immature plumages not described.

SE Brazil from SE Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo S to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul; also NE Argentina (Misiones) and recently recorded in S Paraguay (3 Hostettler, H. and Smith, P. (2014). Long-trained Nightjar (Macropsalis forcipata) (Aves, Caprimulgidae): first Paraguayan record. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia. 22(4): 411-413. Close ).

Occurs mainly in forest and woodland, in second-growth forest, and at forest edge ; in more N parts of range, tends to prefer forest in more mountainous regions. Recorded from sea-level up to 1800 m.

None documented. Possibly sedentary.

Diet poorly studied, but probably feeds on insects. Foraging methods poorly documented. Forages by flying close to trees and taking insects from leaves; hawks for prey in flight, and feeds on insects attracted to artificial lights; also recorded feeding from ground  , beside a path, making short sallies and returning to same spot.

Call  , given by both sexes, is a repetitive, high-pitched “tsip, tsip, tsip, tsip”.

Breeds possibly Nov–Jan in S Brazil; probable courtship recorded in late Sept, in NE Argentina; no data from other regions. Nest-site  often shaded by vegetation, e.g. lichens and bushes; no nest, eggs laid on leaf litter on ground. Male performs courtship display on areas of bare ground, puffs out throat and raises tail at right angle to form conspicuous white V, can also hover around perched female with tail spread downwards; display areas used for up to 2 months. Eggs  elliptical, pinkish-blue, speckled chestnut and buff; incubation mainly by female during day, period not known; female threatened at nest-site may perform distraction display; chick covered in greyish down, streaked buffish-chestnut and black; fledging period not known.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Previouslyconsidered Near Threatened. Endemic to rainforests of SE Brazil and NE Argentina. Possibly rare to locally common in SE Brazil, e.g. common in Paraná and São Paulo, rare in Rio Grande Do Sul, rare in Itatiaia National Park; also present in Serra do Cipo and Serra da Canastra National Parks. Frequent or common and apparently expanding its range in E Misiones, NE Argentina, probably benefitting from primary forest degradation (4 Bodrati, A. and Cockle, K.L. (2012). El Atajacaminos Coludo Macropsalis forcipata en Argentina: ¿una especie amenazada o en expansión? Cotinga. 34: 118–125. Close ). Recorded also in Itapúa department, SE Paraguay (5 Hostettler, H. and Smith, P. (2014). Long-trained Nightjar (Macropsalis forcipata) (Aves, Caprimulgidae): first Paraguayan record. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia. 22(4): 411–413. Close ).