FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Answer to most recent Bird Quiz

[Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

As most folks guessed (?) or determined, last month's quiz bird is a Common
Nighthawk.  This juvenile does not sport the white throat of an adult male
and the white patches in the primaries are not visible.  You will note the
short length of the primaries, which were not entirely grown out on this
individual.  The feather patterning is not as cryptic as that of a
Whip-poor-will or Chuck-will's-widow, matching more of the barred patterns
of Common Nighthawk. Also, structurally the bird's head and face are more
"nighthawkish" than other nighjars. I am not quite sure what to make of the
brown appearance of the bird caused by the obvious broad reddish-brown
edgings to many of the feathers. The few times I've seen young nighthawks
before, they have not been this brown. Mark Brigham, one of the authors of
the Common Nighthawk account in the Birds of North America series, looked at
a few photos of this bird and thought it probably was not normal for our
area but was not sure how common a bird this bright might be here. It is
certainly suggestive of the coloration of a "rufous" bird of the southwest
(Sibley). Perhaps this "morph" occurs rangewide. I could find nothing in the
literature suggesting that a bird this bright is normal in the east. Anyone
know otherwise???

A link to the photo is pasted below.

<http://www.biology.eku.edu/KOS/whatisit.html> 

bpb, Louisville
brainard.palmer-ball AT mail.state.ky.us

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