Square-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus fossii) [XC338990]
by Frank Lambert from Mutinondo Wilderness area, Northern Province, Zambia (song)
Square-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus fossii) [XC338986]
by Peter Boesman from Mutinondo Wilderness area, Northern Province, Zambia (call, song, song and calls)
Subspecies
Formerly considered conspecific with Slender-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus clarus), and these two form superspecies with Long-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus climacurus). All have frequently been separated in genus Scotornis. In past, birds of coastal eastern Africa sometimes placed in subspecies mossambicus.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
fossii Hartlaub, 1857 - Northern and south-western Gabon, and possibly south-western Congo.
welwitschii Barboza du Bocage, 1867 - Southern Zaire, southern Burundi and southern Tanzania south to northern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana and north-eastern South Africa.
griseoplurus Clancey, 1965 - Kalahari Desert and extreme northern South Africa.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet