Buff-tailed Coronet vs Chuck-will's-widow

Boissonneaua flavescens compared with Antrostomus carolinensis

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Buff-tailed Coronet	Chuck-will's-widow
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Aves (Birds)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Caprimulgiformes (Caprimulgiformes)
Family	Trochilidae	Caprimulgidae
Genus	Boissonneaua	Antrostomus
Species	Boissonneaua flavescens	Antrostomus carolinensis

Evolutionary Relationship

Buff-tailed Coronet and Chuck-will's-widow share a common ancestor at the Class level: Aves. (Birds)

Conservation Status

Buff-tailed Coronet

LC — Least Concern

Chuck-will's-widow

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Buff-tailed Coronet	Chuck-will's-widow
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Buff-tailed Coronet

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Chuck-will's-widow

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Norway, and Venezuela.

Buff-tailed Coronet

A large, robust hummingbird named for its warm buff-yellow tail base and coronet-like iridescent head, buff-tailed coronets inhabit humid cloud forest and forest edges in the northern Andes of Colombia and Ecuador at elevations from 1,200–2,800 meters. They are relatively aggressive, defending nectar-rich territories and feeding at large flowering trees. Their large body size for a hummingbird reflects adaptation to cold-tolerant foraging at higher altitudes compared to lowland species. Listed as Least Concern.

Chuck-will's-widow

The Chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) is the largest nightjar in North America, named for its distinctive far-carrying call — a resonant four-syllable whistle repeated persistently on warm nights. It breeds across the southeastern United States, from the Atlantic coastal plain through the Gulf states and up the Mississippi Valley to southern Indiana and Kansas. The species migrates southward in autumn to winter quarters in the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America. Like all nightjars, it is a crepuscular and nocturnal insectivore, capturing large moths, beetles, and other flying insects in flight using its enormous, bristle-fringed gape. By day, the Chuck-will's-widow roosts on the ground or along horizontal branches, relying on cryptic mottled plumage for concealment. It nests directly on the leaf litter of open woodland and scrub, typically in pine-oak forests, dry forests, and woodland edges. The IUCN classifies this species as Least Concern, though Breeding Bird Survey data suggest moderate long-term population declines linked to forest fragmentation and light pollution that disrupts insect prey availability. Conservation of large-scale woodland tracts in the southeastern United States benefits this species and its associated nightjar community.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 3 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇳🇴 Norway 🇻🇪 Venezuela