Dave B Smith
Well-known member
This evening I went with a friend to a partially built housing tract on the outside of town. I had been told that Nightjars frequented the roads there at night. In Spanish, the name for Nightjars is Tapacaminos or "Cover the roads" which is exactly what they do. The tract has roads installed for a fairly large development, but the only construction to date has been along one side of one road. All the vacant lots have small trees and are just mowed occassionally so it is pretty weedy.
As we entered, we found our first nightjars along the first 100 meters. These were a little skittish and we didn't get a good ID. A little further down and off to one side in a field we came upon our best find of the night, a Spot-tailed Nightjar. We watched it from the car in the headlights at about 30 meters as it sallied out to catch bugs and return to rest on the ground. After watching this for about 5 minutes, we drove closer, eventually getting within 10 meters. Great views.
We then left him to see what else we could find. A little further down the road we started finding larger groups (6 to 8) that were mostly Lesser Nighthawks, perched on the road and hunting from there.
Next we found a Pauraque. Luckily it was a male and it's distinctive white tail feathers confirmed its ID.
And then more and more Lesser Nighthawks. At one point we had about 6 in the road directly in front of us about 10 meters away and they were hunting in our headlight beams! Talk about great views.
We spent an hour total and we must have seen at least a hundred Nightjars. I came away with two new life birds and some incredible memories.
As we entered, we found our first nightjars along the first 100 meters. These were a little skittish and we didn't get a good ID. A little further down and off to one side in a field we came upon our best find of the night, a Spot-tailed Nightjar. We watched it from the car in the headlights at about 30 meters as it sallied out to catch bugs and return to rest on the ground. After watching this for about 5 minutes, we drove closer, eventually getting within 10 meters. Great views.
We then left him to see what else we could find. A little further down the road we started finding larger groups (6 to 8) that were mostly Lesser Nighthawks, perched on the road and hunting from there.
Next we found a Pauraque. Luckily it was a male and it's distinctive white tail feathers confirmed its ID.
And then more and more Lesser Nighthawks. At one point we had about 6 in the road directly in front of us about 10 meters away and they were hunting in our headlight beams! Talk about great views.
We spent an hour total and we must have seen at least a hundred Nightjars. I came away with two new life birds and some incredible memories.
