Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic note
Aegotheles bennettii and A. affinis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as A. bennettii following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) but considerable genetic distance coupled with morphological differences (notably in size) and the geographical position of affinis suggest that treatment as a separate species is warranted (Dumbacher et al. 2003); this argument accepted here pending more detailed morphological comparisons and the establishment of vocal evidence. Subspecies terborghi previously placed in A. affinis but now moved to A. bennettii. Monotypic.
Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2023. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 8. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v8_Dec23.zip.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
Migratory status |
not a migrant |
Forest dependency |
does not normally occur in forest |
Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: This species is very poorly known and the global population size has not been quantified, but it is thought to be uncommon (Cleere 2010, Kirwan et al. 2020).
Trend justification: Although the species is very poorly known, it inhabits lowland and hill forest and as such is precautionarily suspected to be declining due to ongoing forest loss within its range. Remote sensing data indicate that forest loss is slow but ongoing within the range, equivalent to c.2% in the three generations to 2021 (Global Forest Watch 2023, using data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein). Tentatively, declines are placed here in the range 1-9% in three generations.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Vogelkop Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles affinis. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/vogelkop-owlet-nightjar-aegotheles-affinis on 06/12/2024.
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 06/12/2024.