The first Colombian records of the Antillean Nighthawk (Chordeiles gundlachii), with notes on migrant Chordeiles in South America

Abstract

The Antillean Nighthawk (Chordeiles gundlachii), a species very similar to the Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), was presumed to migrate to South America following breeding in the Caribbean region. However, no concrete evidence of its presence there existed prior to 2018, when a geolocation study revealed the migration route and wintering area in western Brazil of an individual, including its possible presence in the Venezuelan-Colombian border during its fall migration. We found two misidentified specimens of this species in series of C. minor in two Colombian ornithological collections that definitely established its presence in Colombia. We also compare the migration paths of C. gundlachii with those of a similar study of the migrations of C. minor. We highlight the scarcity of spring specimens of both species in these collections, a pattern also evident in spatiotemporal modeling based on community science data. We suggest that further examination of series of C. minor in other South American collections, including genetic analyses, wider movement tracking studies, and stable isotope analyses could clarify the nonbreeding distributions of both migratory nighthawks. In addition, Antillean Nighthawk flight calls are distinctive and a good indicator of its presence thus can help to detect it and better understand its migration routes.