ML323829961

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Found by Annika A., around noon this afternoon. Amazing discovery Annika, congrats! Diana Byrne and I relocated it on a log around 4 pm, it flushed soon after and seemed to fly towards the trees over the field. I decided to wait till dusk to get better views. Spotted it flying again over the field on the far end at 7:49, seen with Caleb and Courtney. Description: Medium sized nightjar with horizontal white bar across primaries. In flight the bars appeared closer to wing-tips rather than base of primaries. Compared to Common Nighthawks that I have seen in the past, it had a short-winged appearance. The wing-tips had a somewhat blunted appearance. Based on the photos of the photos of the bird from others earlier I expected a paler bird, however its overall coloring at dusk had a fairly evenly buff colored look; excluding the wing bars which were pure white (perhaps a male). It had a consistent moth-like flight style without the sharp, steep dives which is expected only of Common Nightnight species. It did fly surprisingly high at times, well above the tree line but gradually would descend down and fly low over the field. We watched the bird fly for 6-7 minutes before it flew over the trees towards Kilchis trail. The bird never vocalized. This is apparently typical of LENI when seen out of range. There is also a short video of the flight which I will try to get downloaded and posted to youtube or something. Access: I parked at the west end of Salmon St. and walked south on the beach to the point. Seen at dusk here: 45.509962, -123.883443 Seen on log earlier roosting here: 45.508748, -123.887653

Technical information

Original file size

8.05 MB