goatsucker!

common poorwill

 I saw this little one a few weeks ago in the mountains east of San Jose – it landed on a dirt road in front of us as we were slowly driving back to camp – with headlights and an additional LED flashlight, I was able to get this picture. It is a common poorwill, part of the nightjar family of birds, which are nocturnal birds of prey. I don’t often see them, but it’s actually the second time I’ve photographed one in the wild! See my earlier blog post from last January (2013).

They were know as “goatsuckers” due to folk tales that they sucked the blood of goats during the night. So far, there has been no evidence of this – but they do eat a lot of insects.