Birdfinding.info   Common and easily detected by voice from late spring into summer in its core breeding areas: especially in Oklahoma, the Ozarks, central Texas, the Mississippi bottomlands, and the coastal plain from Mississippi and southeastern Virginia to southern Florida (see Breeding Bird Survey Abundance Map in Notes, below).  During April, it is fairly frequent at migration hotspots throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Chuck-will’s-widow

Antrostomus carolinensis

Breeds in the eastern U.S.  Winters in Middle America and the West Indies.

Breeding.  Deciduous and mixed woodlands, across much of the eastern U.S. from southern Iowa, southern Ohio, and southern New Jersey south to south-central Texas and southern Florida.  Locally or sporadically north to southernmost Ontario and Long Island, and east to Grand Bahama and Andros.

Nonbreeding.  Winters mainly from the Gulf slope of eastern Mexico to Panama and on Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola.  In smaller numbers north to the U.S. Gulf Coast states and the Bahamas, south to western Colombia, and east to Puerto Rico and Vieques.

Movements.  Migrates north from late March to early May; south from September into October.  Fairly regular as a spring overshot vagrant to the upper Great Lakes region and New England, exceptionally to South Dakota, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.  Winter vagrant to Venezuela, the ABC Islands, and the Leeward Islands.

Identification

A large, warm-brown nightjar.  Usually appears paler and rustier than other nightjars in its range, but its overall coloration varies, and a few individuals are grayish or dark brown above.

Male’s undertail appears mostly whitish.  Seen from above, the male’s tail appears entirely mottled brown when folded, but shows white stripes when spread—the inner webs of the three outer tail feathers are mostly white.

Female’s tail is mottled brown overall with buffy tips on the outer tail feathers.

Chuck-will’s-widow.  (University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina; June 2, 2015.)  © Sam Cooper

Chuck-will’s-widow, male, appearing dark brown in this view.  (Old Hidalgo Pumphouse, Hidalgo, Texas; January 28, 2018.)  © Dennis Weiler

Chuck-will’s-widow, a pale, cinnamon-brown individual.  (Halifax, Nova Scotia; May 23, 2019.)  © Jason Dain

Chuck-will’s-widow.  (The Triangle Pond, Austin, Texas; April 21, 2015.)  © Vincent O’Brien

Chuck-will’s-widow, female.  (Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia; May 2, 2018.)  © Nathan Furnau

Chuck-will’s-widow, with dark gray-brown upperparts.  (Garden Key, Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida; April 21, 2017.)  © Max Wilson

Chuck-will’s-widow, female, a yellowish or cinnamon-brown individual.  (Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama; September 13, 2016.)  © Erika Gates

Chuck-will’s-widow, female with dark-brown upperparts.  (Star Island, Rye, New Hampshire; May 21, 2016.)  © Christopher McPherson

Chuck-will’s-widow, a grayish-brown individual showing a bold white throat-collar.  (Boyd Hill Nature Park, St. Petersburg, Florida; April 7, 2018.)  © JoAnna Clayton

Chuck-will’s-widow, an individual with an intricate color pattern.  (High Island, Texas; April 23, 2012.)  © Luke Seitz

Chuck-will’s-widow, female, a dark-brown individual with a bold white throat-collar.  (Metropolitan Park, Panama City, Panama; November 14, 2016.)  © Euclides Campos

Chuck-will’s-widow, a very pale individual.  (Jackson County, Georgia; May 7, 2017.)  © Leila Dasher

Chuck-will’s-widow, a grayish-brown individual showing conspicuous whitish shoulder straps.  (Fairmont, North Carolina; May 13, 2014.)  © Nolan Eggert

Chuck-will’s-widow, male, showing largely buffy undertail.  (Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; January 25, 2019.)  © Wayne Fidler

Chuck-will’s-widow, female, a yellowish or cinnamon-brown individual showing buffy tail corners.  (New Orleans, Louisiana; September 24, 2014.)  © Jody Shugart

Chuck-will’s-widow, a grayish-brown individual, showing a bold white throat-collar.  (Boyd Hill Nature Park, St. Petersburg, Florida; April 7, 2018.)  © JoAnna Clayton

Chuck-will’s-widow, juvenile male.  (James E. Grey Preserve, New Port Richey, Florida; August 27, 2013.)  © Stephen Mann

Chuck-will’s-widow, male, in migration over open water.  (Offshore from Broward County, Florida; April 7, 2018.)  © Suzanne Zuckerman

Chuck-will’s-widow, male, a reddish-brown individual, showing a bold white throat-collar.  (Victoria Glades Conservation Area, Missouri; June 26, 2015.)  © Diane Bricmont

Chuck-will’s-widow, a warm-brown individual, showing an inconspicuous whitish throat-collar.  (Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, Key West, Florida; April 14, 2017.)  © Sam Wilson

Chuck-will’s-widow, male, ventral view showing largely white undertail and white throat collar.  (Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area, New Jersey; July 29, 2017.)  © Tom Johnson

Voice.  Song is a three-note phrase, the first percussive and the others rich, mid-range whistles, rendered as chuck-will’s-widow:

Cf. Eastern Whip-poor-will.  Chuck-will’s widow and Eastern Whip-poor-will overlap widely across the eastern U.S. and Mexico, and are easily confused if discovered during daylight.  Size is often the most useful indicator, as Chuck-will’s widow is somewhat larger and gives the impression of a large bird, especially when flushed.

Overall coloration is a useful but not diagnostic, as both species vary.  In general, most Chuck-will’s-widows are a much redder shade of brown than most Whip-poor-wills.  Some portions of the plumage seem to be more consistent than others—especially the top of the head, which usually appears grayish on Whip-poor-wills and warm-brown on Chuck-will’s-widow.

The tail patterns of males differ conspicuously when seen from above: male Whip-poor-wills have extensively white outer tail feathers, whereas male Chuck-will’s-widows have stripes that are rarely visible.  The tail patterns of females are more similar, but female Whip-poor-will typically shows distinctly whitish corners that are larger and contrast more noticeably than the buffy tips on female Chuck-will’s-widow.

Cf. Rufous Nightjar.  Chuck-will’s widow and Rufous Nightjar overlap in winter from Costa Rica to Colombia.  By the measurements, Rufous is slightly smaller, but otherwise they are essentially indistinguishable.  Both are typically a reddish shade of brown overall, more so than other nightjars, and both are quite variable.  Based on available photographs, Chuck-will’s-widow tends to be paler and more uniform than Rufous, but this tendency is probably not consistent or clear enough to be useful in field identification.  In addition, Rufous typically shows a bold white half-collar on the throat, which is less apparent on most Chuck-will’s-widows.

Notes

Monotypic species.

Breeding Bird Survey Abundance Map: Chuck-will’s-widow.

References

Alderfer, J., and J.L. Dunn. 2014. National Geographic Complete Birds of North America (Second Edition). National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.

Ascanio, D., G.A. Rodriguez, and R. Restall. 2017. Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London.

BirdLife International. 2018. Antrostomus carolinensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22689778A131764040. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22689778A131764040.en. (Accessed November 3, 2019.)

Cleere, N., and D. Nurney. 1998. Nightjars: A Guide to Nightjars and Related Nightbirds. Pica Press, Sussex.

Cleere, N., and G.M. Kirwan. 2019. Chuck-will’s-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis). 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 a. https://www.hbw.com/node/55185. (Accessed November 3, 2019.)

eBird. 2019. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed November 6, 2019.)

Fagan, J., and O. Komar. 2016. Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of Northern Central America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York.

Garrido, O.H, and A. Kirkconnell. 2000. Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.

Garrigues, R., and R. Dean. 2014. The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide (Second Edition). Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.

Gemmill, D. 2015. Birds of Vieques Island, Puerto Rico: Status, Abundance, and Conservation. Special issue of The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, BirdsCaribbean, Scholarly & Specialized Publishing, Charlottesville, Virginia.

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.

Holyoak, D.T. 2001. Nightjars and Their Allies. Oxford University Press.

Howell, S.N.G., and S. Webb. 1995. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Latta, S., C. Rimmer, A. Keith, J. Wiley, H. Raffaele, K. McFarland, and E. Fernandez. 2006. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

McMullan, M., and T. Donegan. 2014, Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia (Second Edition). Fundación Proaves de Colombia, Bogotá.

Raffaele, H. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

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.

Ridgely, R.S., and J.A. Gwynne. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Panama (Second Edition). Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

Wells, J.V., and A.C. Wells. 2017. Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.