{{short description|Species of bird}} {{speciesbox | image = Chuck-wills-widow RWD7.jpg | image_caption = Female | image2=Chuck-wills-widow_call_01.ogg | image2_caption = Song | status = NT | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 13 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2020 |title=''Antrostomus carolinensis'' |volume=2020 |article-number=e.T22689778A154067182 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22689778A154067182.en |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref> | status2 = G5 | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=NatureServe Explorer 2.0 |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102662/Antrostomus_carolinensis |website=explorer.natureserve.org |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> | genus = Antrostomus | species = carolinensis | authority = (Gmelin, JF, 1789) | synonyms = ''Caprimulgus carolinensis'' | range_map = Antrostomus carolinensis map.svg | range_map_caption = {{leftlegend|#FF7F2A|Breeding}}{{leftlegend|#7137C8|Resident}}{{leftlegend|#5F8DD3|Nonbreeding}} }}

The '''chuck-will's-widow''' ('''''Antrostomus carolinensis''''') is a nocturnal bird of the nightjar family Caprimulgidae. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States (with disjunct populations in Long Island, New York; Ontario, Canada; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts) near swamps, rocky uplands, and pine woods. It migrates to the West Indies, Central America, and northwestern South America.

==Taxonomy== The chuck-will's-widow was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other nightjars in the genus ''Caprimulgus'' and coined the binomial name ''Caprimulgus carolinensis''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=1028 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656523 }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on those of earlier authors including the "Goat-sucker of Carolina" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his ''The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands '' that was published between 1729 and 1732.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Catesby | first=Mark | author-link=Mark Catesby | year=1729–1732 | title=The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands | volume=1 | location=London | publisher=W. Innys and R. Manby | language=English, French | page=8, Plate 8 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40753140 }}</ref> Chuck-will's-widow is now placed with 11 other species in the genus ''Antrostomus'' that was erected by the French naturalist Charles Bonaparte in 1838.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bonaparte | first=Charles Lucien | title=A Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America | author-link=Charles Lucien Bonaparte | year=1838 | publisher=John Van Voorst | location=London | page=8 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33208487 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2022 | title=Frogmouths, Oilbird, potoos, nightjars | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/nightjars/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=8 July 2022 }}</ref> The generic name combines the Ancient Greek ''antron'' meaning "cavern" and ''stoma'' meaning "mouth". The specific epithet ''carolinensis'' is from the toponym Carolina.<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n50/mode/1up 50], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n92/mode/1up 92]}}</ref> The type locality is South Carolina.<ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1940 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=4 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=197 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14476668 }}</ref> The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<ref name=ioc/>

The common English name "chuck-will's-widow " is an onomatopoeia from the bird's song.<ref name=bow>{{cite journal | last1=Straight | first1=C.A. | last2=Cooper | first2=R.J. | year=2020 | title=Chuck-will's-widow (''Antrostomus carolinensis''), version 1.0 | editor-last=Poole | editor-first=A.F. | journal=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | doi=10.2173/bow.chwwid.01 }}</ref> Alternative names include "chuckwuts-widow" and "chip-fell-out-of-a-oak".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cleere |first1=Nigel |title= Nightjars, Potoos, Frogmouths, Oilbird and Owlet-nightjars of the World |year=2010 |publisher=WILDGuides |location=Old Basing |isbn=978-1-903657-07-2 |pages=443–447 |chapter=Appendix 2 – Alternative English Names}}</ref>

This bird is sometimes confused with the better-known whippoorwill (''Antrostomus vociferus''),<ref>For example, Henninger (1906) combines the old scientific name of ''C. carolinensis'' with the common name "Whip-poor-will". As ''C. carolinensis'' does not occur in the area discussed, he obviously refers to ''C. vociferus''. In other cases, the specific identity of birds may not be determinable.</ref> because of their similar calls and unusual names. Though rather closely related, they are two distinct species.

==Description== The chuck-will's-widow has a short bill and a long tail typical of the nightjars. It has mottled brownish underparts, a buff throat, reddish-brown feathers lined with black, and brown and white patterning on head and chest. Males have patches of white on their outer tail feathers. It is the largest nightjar in North America. In length, it ranges from {{convert|28|to|33|cm|in|abbr=on}}. The wingspan can range from {{convert|58|to|66|cm|in|abbr=on}}. The body mass of the species is from {{convert|66|to|188|g|oz|abbr=on}}.<ref>[http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chuck-wills-widow/lifehistory Chuck Wills Widow]. All About Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.</ref> Among standard measurements, the wing chord is {{convert|20.1|to|22.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}, the tail is {{convert|13|to|15.1|cm|in|abbr=on}}, the bill is {{convert|1.1|to|1.4|cm|in|abbr=on}} and the tarsus is {{convert|1.5|to|1.9|cm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref>Holyoak, D.T. (2001): ''Nightjars and their Allies: the Caprimulgiformes''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. {{ISBN|0-19-854987-3}}.</ref>

The repetitive song is often heard at night. It consists of a series of calls with a vibrating middle note between two shorter notes, not much shifting in pitch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2017/04/hardy30sh.mp3|title=Call recording|website=www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu|access-date=Dec 21, 2022}}</ref> It is slower, lower-pitched and less piercing than the song of the whip-poor-will.

==Behavior and ecology== ===Diet=== It eats primarily insects, particularly those active at night such as moths, beetles, and winged ants. It will also eat small birds and bats, swallowing them whole.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Predation by the Chuck-will's-widow upon migrating warblers |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v079n03/p0342-p0342.pdf |journal=Wilson Bulletin |volume=79 |issue=3 |page=342 |last=Owre |first=Oscar |date=September 1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Chuck-will's-widow on shipboard |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v016n03/p0273-p0276.pdf |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=273–276 |journal=The Auk |first=Gerald H |last=Thayer |year=1899 |doi=10.2307/4069463|jstor=4069463 }}</ref>

===Breeding=== The eggs are laid on patches of dead leaves on the ground. They are pink with spots of brown and lavender and are incubated by the female.

==Gallery== <gallery widths="200" heights="150"> File:Chuck-will's-widow eggs RWD.jpg|Eggs on leaves File:Chuck-will's-widow RWD6.jpg|Camouflaged female on nest File:Chuck-will's-widow RWD5.jpg|Mimicking a Cottonmouth snake File:Chuck-will's-widow RWD2.jpg|Perched on a branch File:Chuck-will's-widow RWD3.jpg|Perched on a branch File:Caprimulgus carolinensisDF28N01B.jpg|Adult male (upper right) and female (lower left) File: Chuck-will’s-widow_Tex.jpg|South Padre Island - Texas </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== *{{cite journal|author=Henninger, W.F.|year=1906|title= A preliminary list of the birds of Seneca County, Ohio|journal=Wilson Bulletin|volume=18|issue=2|pages= 47–60|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v018n02/p0047-p0060.pdf}}

==External links== {{Portal|Birds}} {{Commonscatinline}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060401181805/http://www.audubon.org/bird/BoA/F4_G1a.html audubon.org] * [https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i4160id.html Chuck-will's-widow] – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter * [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Chuck-will's-widow.html Chuck-will's-widow Species Account] – Cornell Lab of Ornithology * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110106025510/http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/wwwsounds/birds/hardy30sh.wav Chuck-will's-widow Bird Sound]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1262147}}

Category:Antrostomus Category:Nightjars Category:Birds of the United States Category:Meso-American wintering birds Category:Birds described in 1789 Category:Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin