habitat is still not well known. Behavior Feeding The Yucatan poorwill is crepuscular and nocturnal. It forages at night in an open area and forages by sallying from a perch in a tree and perhaps from the ground. Its prey is insects but details are not known. Breeding The Yucatan poorwill's clutch of two eggs is laid directly on the ground without a nest. Its breeding season is from April to June in Guatemala. Although the species and the eared poorwill (N. mcleodii) are hard to distinguish, their eggs are different in color. While the eggs of N. yucatanicus have been described as yellowish-beige with brown spots, the eggs of N. mcleodii have been described as ivory white with no spots. When an intruder approaches the nest, the adult incubating eggs may try to keep the intruder away from the nest by making it look like the adult is injured when it lands (an injury-feigning distraction display) some distance from the nest. Essentially nothing else is known about its breeding phenology. Vocalization The Yucatan poorwill's song is "a loud, slightly resonant whirr or whirrrr". It is given at night from a tree perch, mostly between February and October. It also makes "a slightly liquid, at times accelerating puk-puk...and a sharp week week week in flight". The latter is though to be an alarm call. The song has been confused with the song of the yucatan nightjar (Caprimulgus badius). Its song is simple and repetitive. It starts a little above 1kHz, peaks at 2.2kHz, and drops to 1kHz. Each song lasts for around 0.3 seconds with intervals of 1.5 - 1.8 seconds (see Figure 2 in Hardy & Straneck, 1989 ). Status The IUCN originally assessed the Yucatan poorwill as Near Threatened but since 2004 has rated it as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and is generally fairly common to common, though its population is believed to be declining. No immediate threats have been identified. References External links Yucatan Poorwill photo gallery VIREO Article oiseaux Caprimulgides Article EOL Yucatan Poorwill Nyctiphrynus Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Belize Birds of Guatemala Birds of Mexico Birds described in 1892 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot