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Nightjars for the Uninitiated

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What is a nightjar? For those of you that have simply stumbled your way here from the great expanses of the internet and are wondering to yourselves "what is a nightjar?" then this is the post for you! Nightjars are birds in the order  Caprimulgiformes and family Caprimulgidae , but if you have little interest in scientific classification, the basic summary is that nightjars are the nocturnal gremlins of the bird world. Various nightjars have earned a smattering of expressive names like liche fowl , 鬼鸟 ( ghost bird ), cuerporruin ( despicable body ), and Satanic Nightjar , the latter of which has been attributed to its call sounding like "pulling out a person’s eye" . Those names alone are plenty to give you a sense of the spooky and ominous reputations they have in folklore. Having spent as much time as I have with nightjars, I can see why  they earned that reputation.  After all, they stare at you like this: "Rock Demon," Eastern Whip-poor-will (New York...
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Chicken Nuggets of the Woods

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So, why did I decide to call this blog "Nightjar Nuggets"? You might assume it's because I aim to share nuggets of knowledge. In a way, that would be correct, but at the core of it? No, that is not the main reason.  The main reason is the fondly nicknamed "Chicken Nuggets of the Woods," otherwise known as the near-and-dear-to-my-heart Eastern Whip-poor-will chicks.  Like this one: Or this one: I'm sure you can see the resemblance. The color. The size. Even the shape. Now, if you know anything about nightjars like the whip-poor-will, you might be thinking "hang on a moment, nightjars are all about camouflage. Why are the chicks just orange? Aren't the nighthawks doing a better job at this?" Common Nighthawk (Logan Parker, Maine 2022) Eastern Whip-poor-will (New York 2024) True, nighthawk chicks have excellent disruptive coloration that blends in with gravel, sand, and rock, among other thing...
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