Saturday nightjar

Well, time slipped away from me today, so I'll have wait to share a more detailed story about the Common Poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii) that I showed in last night's post.  But here's another photo of the same bird (below).  Check out the beautiful details of the feathers!  [Click on the image for a larger version.]

 

And yes, this bird is perched on the roof of a car (!).  The short story is that it was accidentally flushed from a daytime roost site, and ended up sitting on this car in the Bodega Marine Laboratory parking lot for a little while. If you're interested, I shared some information about poorwills back in 2014 — see the 6 November 2014 post called "the sleeping one."

Sunset dance

We've been in New Hampshire for a couple of days.  Last night we were watching the sunset and I had just started taking pictures when I noticed a few birds fly into view:

 

They were flying quite high over a lake, with deep wing beats, and quick maneuvers:

 

Their silhouettes were dramatic against the sunset clouds:

 

At times they looked like falcons, other times like kites:

 

A few times they came quite close.  If you look carefully, in the next image you can see a white wing bar near the tip of the right wing:

 

I'm guessing these Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) were in the midst of their migration to South America.  

If you aren't familiar with them, nighthawks are in the nightjar family (Caprimulgidae) and are related to Whip-poor-wills and poorwills.  This is a good time of year to watch for them.  In New England, the Connecticut River Valley provides good opportunities for seeing nighthawks migrating at sunset.  (I saw and heard Common Nighthawks over our house in Sebastopol when we first moved to California, and they have been observed on Bodega Head.)

Wish them a good journey!

 

"the sleeping one"

 

Coming back from field work just after sunset, I was surprised to hear Eric say, "There's a poorwill."  I had to ask again to make sure I heard him correctly.  Sure enough, there was a Common Poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii) sitting on the trail ahead of us.

I didn't have the right lens on the camera, so I had to make a change as quickly as possible.  And it was very dark, except for the full moon and our headlamps.  I took two pictures before the poorwill flew off.  They're not the best, but since they're my first pictures of this species, and this is one of my favorite families of birds, I decided to go ahead and show them.

 

Common Poorwills are members of the nightjar family which also includes nighthawks and whip-poor-wills.  They're known for their cryptic plumage, and being crepuscular (active near dawn/dusk) or nocturnal (active at night).

Poorwills are one of the smallest nightjars, at only 19-21 cm (7.5-8 inches) long.  They have very large eyes with a tapetum lucidum, a layer that reflects light back to the retina and helps with vision in low light conditions (it's the reason for the glow in these images).

According to the Birds of North America account, the Hopi Indians called Common Poorwills, "Hölchoko" or "the sleeping one."  They were aware of its ability to enter torpor — a state of physical inactivity usually marked by reduced body temperature and metabolic rate.  Poorwills will enter torpor in response to low temperatures or lack of food.  When in a state of torpor, body temperatures as low as 5°C (41°F) have been recorded and oxygen consumption rates may be reduced by over 90%!  

In Sonoma County, Common Poorwills are uncommon during the summer and rare during the winter, so consider yourself lucky if you see one!