Diabolical Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus Scientific name definitions

26 cm. Male known only from field observations. Upperparts greyish-brown, speckled and spotted brown, buff and pale tawny; crown broadly streaked blackish, no nuchal collar; wing-coverts brown, spotted and ocellated cinnamon-tawny; scapulars blackish, ocellated cinnamon on feather tips; band around throat white in male, rich buff in female; underparts brown, barred and spotted cinnamon and pale buff, becoming pale buff barred brown on belly and flanks; tail very narrowly tipped buffish. Female has small whitish spot on third and fourth outermost primaries; perhaps also present in male. Iris dark brown, bill blackish, legs and feet dark brown.

Mountains of N & C Sulawesi.

Possibly restricted to primary forest in clearings and openings, or along roads, tracks and edges. Recorded in lowland forest, hill forest and montane forest, including lightly logged areas, between 250 m and 2300 m; frequently uses forest clearings, both natural and man-made, for roosing or nesting (1 Yong, D.L., Harris, J.B.C., Rasmussen, P.C., Noske, R., Putra, D.D., Rutherford, W., Tinulele, I. and Prawiradilaga, D.M. (2012). Notes on breeding behaviour, ecology, taxonomy and vocalisations of Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus in Central Sulawesi. Kukila. 16(1): 16-30. Close ).

None documented. Presumably sedentary.

Feeds on insects. Forages in flight, hunting along edges of forests and forest roads.

Song in flight described as a series of widely spaced, musical, loud, resonant, abrupt upturned notes: “fWIP!”, “fWIP!”…, sometimes delivered in closely spaced pairs in which the first note is longer and the the second is sharper and more abrupt-sounding “fWIP-WIK!”, “fWIP-WIK!”... (1 Yong, D.L., Harris, J.B.C., Rasmussen, P.C., Noske, R., Putra, D.D., Rutherford, W., Tinulele, I. and Prawiradilaga, D.M. (2012). Notes on breeding behaviour, ecology, taxonomy and vocalisations of Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus in Central Sulawesi. Kukila. 16(1): 16-30. Close ). Second main note type, usually given while perched, is a fairly uniform trill of sharp, quick, musical, resonant percussive notes similar in tone to the single or double notes, but quickly run-together (1 Yong, D.L., Harris, J.B.C., Rasmussen, P.C., Noske, R., Putra, D.D., Rutherford, W., Tinulele, I. and Prawiradilaga, D.M. (2012). Notes on breeding behaviour, ecology, taxonomy and vocalisations of Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus in Central Sulawesi. Kukila. 16(1): 16-30. Close ).

Five nest records described, one from Panua Nature Reserve (2 Riley, J. and Wardill, J.C. (2003). The status, habitat and nest of the Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus. Kukila. 12: 3–11. Close ) and four from Lore Lindu National Park (3 Boon, L. and Faustino, A. (2005). A second nest of Heinrich’s Nightjar. BirdingASIA. 4: 58-59. Close , 1 Yong, D.L., Harris, J.B.C., Rasmussen, P.C., Noske, R., Putra, D.D., Rutherford, W., Tinulele, I. and Prawiradilaga, D.M. (2012). Notes on breeding behaviour, ecology, taxonomy and vocalisations of Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus in Central Sulawesi. Kukila. 16(1): 16-30. Close ); nests on the ground, in small forest clearings with some cover of ferns and moss; breeding season at least Mar–Oct; clutch one egg , creamy white, faintly marked with light brown streaks or speckles; chick fawn coloured when young, later on similar to adult although much less well-marked; nestling period at least 31 days (1 Yong, D.L., Harris, J.B.C., Rasmussen, P.C., Noske, R., Putra, D.D., Rutherford, W., Tinulele, I. and Prawiradilaga, D.M. (2012). Notes on breeding behaviour, ecology, taxonomy and vocalisations of Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus in Central Sulawesi. Kukila. 16(1): 16-30. Close ). Adults perform threat display when disturbed at nest (1 Yong, D.L., Harris, J.B.C., Rasmussen, P.C., Noske, R., Putra, D.D., Rutherford, W., Tinulele, I. and Prawiradilaga, D.M. (2012). Notes on breeding behaviour, ecology, taxonomy and vocalisations of Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus in Central Sulawesi. Kukila. 16(1): 16-30. Close ).

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in Sulawesi EBA. Until recently, known only from type specimen, a female, taken in Mar 1931 from Kumarsot, at base of Kalabat volcano on Minahasa peninsula in N Sulawesi; not recorded again, despite many collecting expeditions and visits by ornithologists, until Jul 1993 when a nightjar, possibly this species, was seen at c. 1700 m in Lore Lindu National Park . Rediscovered in May 1996, when birds seen in primary forest on E slopes of Gunung Nokilalaki and W slopes of Gunung Rorekatimbu, close to Lore Lindu. Regularly encountered on Mt Rorekatimbu, along the Anasako track (1 Yong, D.L., Harris, J.B.C., Rasmussen, P.C., Noske, R., Putra, D.D., Rutherford, W., Tinulele, I. and Prawiradilaga, D.M. (2012). Notes on breeding behaviour, ecology, taxonomy and vocalisations of Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus in Central Sulawesi. Kukila. 16(1): 16-30. Close ). Also recorded in the Panua and Gunung Ambang forest reserves on the northern peninsula (2 Riley, J. and Wardill, J.C. (2003). The status, habitat and nest of the Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus. Kukila. 12: 3–11. Close ). Perhaps overlooked due to nocturnal habits and locally common (2 Riley, J. and Wardill, J.C. (2003). The status, habitat and nest of the Satanic Nightjar Eurostopodus diabolicus. Kukila. 12: 3–11. Close ), although threatened by deforestation; type locality now devoid of forest and almost entirely covered by coconut plantations, at least to c. 1000 m. Some of remaining forest on Sulawesi is protected within national parks such as Lore Lindu and may conceal further populations.