Subject: [Tweeters] Poorwill
Date: Sat Aug 25 01:34:51 PDT 2018
From: Dan Reiff, PhD - dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com
Tweets,
Please be especially careful in the next few weeks when traveling on the backroads of Eastern Washington. Poorwill young are out and on road edges in darkness and are even more vulnerable than the adults to being hit by cars.
Last week I found one dead and still warm on Umptanum road. This is the third Male poorwill I have found dead in the past year.
One on the Old Vantage road, one in the Yakima Canyon and the last (hopefully) on Umptanum.
If you would like to observe poorwill, the next few weeks is a good time to do so.
Robinson canyon and the approach road are very reliable places to find them.
Drive slowly and stop at least 60-80 feet from them. You can watch them hunt from that distance.
I have seen the reddish "eyeshine" only about 50% of the time before spotting them. Look for their size and shape. They are very small. So please understand that just because you do not see the reflected light does not mean they are not present (the rare triple negative).
Be especially observant and cautious near areas where there are leafy shrubs very near the road. They tend to like shrub species immediately in back of them and often on both sides of the road with a nearby slope.
Hope you are able to find and observe these beauties!
Best regards,
Dan Reiff
MI