Chuck-will’s-widow

Naturalist Gabriel Willow, whom I explored Monhegan Island and other parts of Maine with last year, spotted a Chuck-will’s-widow in Bryant Park yesterday. This Midtown Manhattan park is a remarkable migrant trap, but this was pretty unusual, so word quickly spread. I managed to get to the park around 3:00, where, amid the dozens of Midtowners and tourists lolling and wandering in the warm sun, a few birders were triangulating on the bird.The bird’s eyes are closed in the strong sunlight. They spend the day perched on branches and hunt airborne insects at night. That tiny-looking beak is actually just the front edge of a huge mouth, all the better for gobbling through the sky like a vacuum-cleaner. (Update: turns out they’ll even take birds! Here’s a report from the Wilson Bulletin and here’s a blurry pic of a Waterthrush in the maw.)

This is the first time I’ve seen one of these, although I’ve heard one before. Their nocturnal song is distinctive: indeed, they say their name (well, more or less).

In 2010, I found a Whip-poor-will in Prospect Park. Since then, these related species have been moved from the Caprimulgus to the Antrostomus genus by the Lord High Taxonomists. Here’s some more on the goatsucker-nightjar-nighthawk complex, including two I saw in Texas last year.