Birdfinding.info ⇒ Last reported with certainty in 1866. As of 2016, BirdLife International considered it premature to relegate this species to the status of presumed extinction, citing “unconfirmed reports of caprimulgids from Milk River and Hellshire Hills, which apparently do not refer to other known species on the island.”
Jamaican Pauraque †
Siphonorhis americana
Extinct. Formerly endemic to Jamaica.
Its former range is not well documented, but is thought to have been primarily dry scrub and woodlands on the southwestern side of the island, with the four known specimens identified as being taken at Bluefields, Freeman’s Hall, and Linstead, as well as contemporaneous reports from the Hellshire Hills.
Assuming that it is now extinct, the likely cause was nest predation by introduced rats or mongoose.
Identification
Similar to Least Pauraque of Hispaniola, but with a longer tail. Males had a narrow whitish terminal tail band; on females the tail band was buffy.
Notes
Monotypic species.
IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct).
References
BirdLife International. 2016. Siphonorhis americana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22689738A93246064. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22689738A93246064.en. (Accessed November 28, 2017.)
Cleere, N., and C.J. Sharpe. 2017. Jamaican Poorwill (Siphonorhis americana). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/55179 (Accessed November 28, 2017.)
Dreelin, A. 2014. Jamaican Pauraque (Siphonorhis americana), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T.S. Schulenberg, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.jampau.01.
Haynes-Sutton, A., A. Downer, R. Sutton, and Y.-J. Rey-Millet. 2009. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Hume, J.P. 2017. Extinct Birds (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.