Hello birders,
Last night from about 8:30-9:30pm, before the storm rolled through, I rode
around Lytle's Loop (clockwise) at Government Canyon with a friend. About a
mile in, in a forested area where the trail is closely surrounded by trees
on both sides, I saw a nice adult Common Pauraque. The bird was sitting on
the ground and flew up as we approached, moving a ways down the trail with
an erratic floppy flight, seemingly hunting moths, but staying below the
canopy of live oak, juniper(?), and other smallish trees. It landed on the
trail again and stared at us with big, red, glowing eyes in our headlights
until we got closer and he again flew low, a little further down the trail,
the extensive white in the tail easily visible in my headlight as it again
landed. This pattern happened one more time before it disappeared into the
trees.
Really fun to see this bird! This trail has been very productive at
night... I've seen several (and heard LOTS) of Chuck-wills-widows on this
same trail earlier in the season, as well as Screech Owls and even a nice
Ring-tailed Cat in a tree several months ago.
Take care,
Nate Nye
San Antonio
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