Birding at night is one of the forms of birding I do the least. I'm not entirely sure why that is the case. So my sightings of nightjars are notoriously low. I have encountered Common Nighthawks thousands of times, but that's because they are out during the day. I think I have heard an Eastern Whip-poor-will once, and that was a staked out bird that someone else found. I've been in a location where Chuck-will's-widows were common but didn't get them because I didn't go out at night. Therefore, I have procrastinated big time on going after Common Poorwills. I have found some great territory for them in the county, mainly along the southern border, but until yesterday, I had not gone looking for them. I told Tiff that I was going to go as conditions were nearly perfect. Aug. 1 was a full moon, the sky was mostly clear, and there was virtually no wind. I told her I was going to check the small hills just south of town and would be gone for no longer than an hour. I would not say my hopes were too high.
My how I was wrong! I pulled off US-183 and found some appropriate habitat. I pulled out my wife's iPod and played the poorwill call. To my astonishment, I immediately heard a bird respond. I drove another quarter of a mile down the road in the direction in which I heard the bird call. I played the tape again and heard clear "poor-will-up" calls from at least two different birds. It just goes to show you sometimes birding is just that easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment