Common Poorwills

Sunday night Charlie Miller and I went for a night drive, mostly to see if we could get more Northern Saw-whets to responds to calls. We had no success with that. However, on the roads there were Common Poorwills. I think these must have been family groups, as there would be several close to together, then none for a distance. Also, some of the birds were incredibly tame, I think I could have picked up several of them, but I didn’t try that. I suspect that these were the young ones, probably just out of the nest. One just sat on the road as we drove slowly by. I took a photo out of the truck window, looking down.

One of maybe eight that were sitting on the road. We could hear more. It was hard to accurately count them as most would flush then land again up ahead with other poorwills. This is nearly a full frame image.

This one was in the vegetation just off the road.

This is a slightly cropped image. I was so close that I couldn’t fit the entire bird in the frame.

I photographed this one from the truck window, shooting almost straight down. It never flushed, even as we drove by.

2 replies on “Common Poorwills”

Good pics. How neat that you were able to get so close. I guess they were confident in their camouflage.

Great photos. They are beautiful and mysterious looking birds. I saw one in Costa Rica at Manuel Antonio national park. Actually the guide pointed it out- it was so well camouflaged. Absolutely gorgeous.

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