... despite the name. Our mystery bird is a Common Nighthawk (chordeiles minor), a member of the whippoorwill and goatsucker (oh yes) family and neither nocturnal nor a hawk at all.
That is what we in Blighty would call a nightjar! Cool, the British ones sometimes make a weird noise like a 2 stroke engine so keep an ear open if they come low enough.
Well looks as if it's from the same family anyway.
Caprimulgus europaeus AKA: European nightjar Nightjars are nocturnal birds and can be seen hawking for food at dusk and dawn. With pointed wings and a long tails their shape is similar to a kestrel or cuckoo. Their cryptic, grey-brown, mottled, streaked and barred plumage provides ideal camouflage in the daytime. They have an almost supernatural reputation with their silent flight and their mythical ability to steal milk from goats. The first indication that a nightjar is near is usually the male's churring song, rising and falling with a ventriloquial quality
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Caprimulgus europaeus
AKA: European nightjar
Nightjars are nocturnal birds and can be seen hawking for food at dusk and dawn. With pointed wings and a long tails their shape is similar to a kestrel or cuckoo. Their cryptic, grey-brown, mottled, streaked and barred plumage provides ideal camouflage in the daytime. They have an almost supernatural reputation with their silent flight and their mythical ability to steal milk from goats. The first indication that a nightjar is near is usually the male's churring song, rising and falling with a ventriloquial quality
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