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Re: ID Help Needed

Hi Kris,

 From your description, I'd say Common Poorwill is a good guess. The
behavior and coloration you describe sound about right, except that the
flight is normally a bit  more buoyant and moth-like, though they do
fly with stiff wings like a Spotted Sandpiper. When flushed during the
day, however, they tend to fly more directly, usually stay close to the
ground and make a relatively short flight, "hoping" low over bushes to
a new, presumably better concealed, roost site. The possibilities of
birds with the white tail-corners you describe and a mottled brown
plumage are quite limited. The only things I can think of with this
combination of characters are Common Poorwill, Spotted Towhee juvenile
and Lark Sparrow. The tail you describe, and the flight style, only fit
the poorwill.

Nice sighting - very strange place.

Mark

Mark Stackhouse
mark@westwings.com
801-487-9453 (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
011-52-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico)

On Aug 21, 2005, at 11:29 PM, Kristin Purdy wrote:

This morning at Fort Buenaventura I flushed a bird off the ground next
to some thick vegetation and across from an open, grassy area.  The
bird
fluttered past me, looked like it was attempting to land on some low
shrubs along the riverbank, and then flew across the river.  I lost
sight of it while it was still over the water because it was descending
and the bank vegetation obscured my view.  All of this happened in the
wink of an eye.  Here's what I saw:

The bird was about the size of a shorebird like a Sanderling and it had
a fluttering flight pattern.  The flight pattern was reminiscent of a
Spottie, but the bird was more robust and it flapped the whole time I
saw it (unlike the fluttering-glide pattern of a Spotted Sandpiper).  I
couldn't see the head at all, in fact, as it flew away from me it
appeared headless.  The rest of the body (I saw the upperparts only)
was
mottled and cryptically-colored brown.  The upper side of the wings
showed no pattern that I could discern in that brief view.

Now, here's the kicker.  The tail was relatively short and fanned.  As
the bird flew away from me I was struck by the prominence of bright
white outer tips of the tail feathers.  It appeared that about three
retrices on each side of the tail had white tips of increasing length
proceeding toward the outer feathers.  The white tips together looked
like a small white triangle on either side of the end of the tail.  The
center tail feathers were the same mottled cryptic brown as the rest of
the bird.

I had absolutely no idea what this bird was at the time.  Now I've got
my nose in the books.  Based on those very distinct white triangles on
the end of the tail and that the bird was on the ground, I think this
could have been a male Common Poorwill.

Can anyone offer any other suggestions or boost my ego and tell me I'm
right?

Kris

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