New Caledonian nightjar
species of bird in the Caprimulgidae family
The New Caledonian nightjar (Eurostopodus exul) is a poorly known species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae.
It is endemic to New Caledonia.
Description
The species was first described by Ernst Mayr in 1941, from a specimen collected in New Caledonia on the Whitney South Sea Expedition in 1939. Mayr initially described the species as Eurostopodus mystacalis exul, believing it to be a subspecies of white-throated nightjar.
Based on the type specimen, this nightjar has silvery-grey plumage with dark blotches and streaks, with a black crown and dark, grey-brown underparts. It lacks the nuchal collar seen in some Caprimulgiformes, but does display a white patch on its throat.
Conservation
It is considered possibly extinct, as it is known only from the holotype which was collected in 1939.
The specimen was of a bird taken in coastal savanna. The possibility of decline in population was probably caused by predation by introduced cats and rats, alongside habitat destruction.
The public source identifies “New Caledonian nightjar” as species of bird in the Caprimulgidae family. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Caledonian, nightjar and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15879807. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1941 and 1939.
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This entry incorporates text from “New Caledonian nightjar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.