• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	A2bce+3bce+4bce

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Near Threatened	A2bce+3bce+4bce
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Near Threatened

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,910,000 km2
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	2,910,000 km2
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	575000-770000 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2018
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	2016-2030
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	13-39,28%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	13-39,20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	13-39,28%	-	-	-
Generation length	4.7 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2-10	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: There are two recognised subspecies, C. r. ruficollis breeding in northern Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula and C. r. desertorum in northeast Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The European breeding population is estimated at 101,000-135,000 calling males, which equates to 202,000-270,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2021). Europe holds c. 35% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 575,000-770,000 mature individuals, although occupancy of the North African range could be considerably lower and it is plausible that most of the global breeding population is concentrated within the Iberian Peninsula. Spain alone holds >95% of the European population (C. Camacho and P. Sáez-Gómez in litt. 2020). This population is estimated to be declining at a rate of 2.3% annually (SEO/BirdLife in litt. 2022), hence the species is inferred to be undergoing a continuing decline suspected to be proceeding at a moderately rapid rate.

Trend justification: The population in Spain is estimated to have declined by 28% (13-39%) over the past three generations, based on the mean slope of trend (-2.3%) estimated from monitoring across the country (347 plots with at least two visits) between 2006-2021 (SEO/BirdLife in litt. 2022). Suspected drivers of the decline are habitat destruction through urbanisation and agriculture, disturbance, road collisions and potentially predation and pollution (del Hoyo et al. 1999, Cleere et al. 2020, Keller et al. 2020, Camacho and Sáez-Gómez 2021). With a large part of the range of the species lacking data on trends or population size (and hence relative proportion of the population), it is tentatively suspected that this rate applies to the entire population, although it is noted that some identified threats such as urbanisation may be less severe outside of the Iberian range. However, climate change is altering fire frequency and intensity throughout the range and habitat conversion or degradation impacts may affect this species in many areas. The precise driver of the decline is not certain, and there is no evidence to suggest that the declines will cease imminently. Consequently the current rate for the past five years of monitoring data is projected for Spain over the period from 2016-2030 and for the future three generations from 2023-2037, and is suspected to be the rate of reduction over these periods for the whole population.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Algeria	extant	native		yes		yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native			yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native			yes
Croatia	extant	vagrant
Denmark	extant	vagrant
France	extant	vagrant
Ghana	extant	native			yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native				yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Italy	extant	vagrant
Libya	extant	vagrant
Mali	extant	native			yes	yes
Malta	extant	vagrant
Mauritania	extant	native			yes	yes
Morocco	extant	native		yes		yes
Nigeria	extant	native			yes
Portugal	extant	native		yes		yes
Senegal	extant	native			yes	yes
Spain	extant	native		yes		yes
Tunisia	extant	native		yes		yes
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant
Western Sahara	extant	native				yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Algeria	Belezma
Morocco	Canton Forestier de Sidi Bou Ghaba
Morocco	Parc National de Souss-Massa and Aglou
Morocco	Parc Naturel de Talassemtane
Morocco	Région Fouchal - Matarka
Portugal	Cabrela
Portugal	Malcata mountains
Portugal	Upper River Tejo
Spain	Bardenas Reales
Spain	El Pardo-Viñuelas
Spain	Monfragüe
Spain	Mountain range and saltpans at Cabo de Gata
Spain	Sierra Morena de Córdoba
Tunisia	Bouhedma
Tunisia	Îles Kneiss
Tunisia	Plaines de Kairouan
Tunisia	Sebkhet Ennoual

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	major	breeding
Altitude	0 - 1500 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Canis familiaris	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Timon lepidus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Vulpes vulpes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Increase in fire frequency/intensity	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Pollution	Excess energy - Light pollution	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance
Pollution	Industrial & military effluents - Seepage from mining	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Residential & commercial development	Commercial & industrial areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Residential & commercial development	Tourism & recreation areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Red-necked Nightjar Caprimulgus ruficollis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/red-necked-nightjar-caprimulgus-ruficollis on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.