Dear Tweeters,

Tonight (5-22-2011) I struck out on an attempt to find some owls, but was astounded to find a COMMON POORWILL on the Illabot Creek Road. This was at about nine-twenty-five PM. I know of one other record for this species in Skagit County, a bird that flew up and got hit by a car; a birder I know happened to be watching when that bird flew up, and he sent it in as a specimen.

Tonight's bird was a very small nightjar with orange eyeshine. It had large white corners on a short, rounded tail. The bird was a warm brown color, not the grey expected on the much larger Common Nighthawk, and had short wings that were not pointed as they would be on a Nighthawk. This bird also lacked the white patches in the wing that nighthawks have.

As is characteristic of Common Poorwills, this bird was making brief sorties from the ground, or in this case, the road's surface, catching flying insects. Each sally was perhaps three meters high, maximum. I observed the bird for about three minutes at forty meters range, or a bit less, illuminated in my car's headlights. As I went to get out of the car, camera in hand, the bird flew off into the brush of a clearcut beside the road, and I never saw it again. I tried whistling for it, but heard no response.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA?garybletsch at yahoo.com?Mentre che li occhi per la fronda verde
ficcava ?o s? come far suole
chi dietro a li uccellin sua vita perde, lo pi? che padre mi dicea: ?Figliuole,
vienne oramai, ch? ?l tempo che n?? imposto
pi? utilmente compartir si vuole?.??