Caprimulgus carolinensis: Chuck-will's-widow

It’s not the first time we’ve seen a whippoorwill (Caprimulgus vociferus). This one seemed to be considerably larger, and in comparison a much lighter brown, especially the head. I’m guessing it to be a chuck will’s widow (Caprimulgus carolinensis) on the basis of those two characteristics.

She was playing the “poor little tasty bird with a broken wing” trick to try to distract me from the spot on the ground where she laid her eggs. Goatsuckers lay a couple of eggs directly on the ground. No nest is built.

She stayed about ten feet from me at all times, pitifully thrashing in the pine straw all the while watching every step I took. I’d advance a little, and so would she. A periodic chirp, very unlike the usual call, seemed to accentuate her agony and maintain my attention. Her distraction maneuvers were well choreographed. She didn’t flutter about randomly in a panic, as a real wounded bird would. Her wing movements were very coordinated. Sort of like a swimmer, she used them to drag herself along on the ground.

Credit: Wayne Hughes, May 2009; photographed in the rolling hills of the Wolfskin district of the northeast Georgia Piedmont; used by permission. [source].

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