Common nighthawks glide through the evening air.

There is a group of birds known as goatsuckers or nightjars. They are nocturnal when hunting for their meals. Snagging insects on the wing is their favorite past-time. During the day they generally sit horizontally on a branch that is low to the ground or right on the ground. They are incredibly difficult to spot because they wear a camouflage that makes them look like a pile of dried up, brown leaves.

In particular, the nightjar that is most likely to be seen on the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge or elsewhere on the Peninsula is the common nighthawk. However, there is a possibility that another of the nightjars, namely the common poorwill, visited our area a few weeks ago. If so, it came here from Eastern Washington. The likelihood is small, but worth considering.

A recent field guide for “Birds of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest,” by Cannings, Aversa and Opperman (2016) describes both the common nighthawk and the common poorwill as small, with plumage of mottled browns, black, gray, buffy and white, and each with a large flat head, short bill and large eyes. The major differences indicated by the authors that we can use in this instance for ID purposes, include the light tail corners of the poorwill, and the absence of a white wing bar. In addition, they indicate that the common poorwill has shorter wings and tail which give the bird a compact appearance when roosting compared to the common nighthawk.

The common nighthawk has not been a very common sighting on the Peninsula or on the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. It is considered uncommon in winter, but rare during the other three seasons. It is also considered a nesting species. In Pacific County, it is designated as a bird that is hard to find, but is usually seen annually. The common poorwill has never been officially recorded in any of our areas, that I know of.

The challenge, then, is to ID the bird that was recently seen by two people in an area south of Oysterville, along Willapa Bay. Both recently saw the bird perched on a low branch and on the ground. A photograph was taken. It is small and out of focus, making identification difficult at best.

I asked a well-known bird expert for an opinion. The answer was that the bird is likely a common nighthawk. The ID was partly based on the fact that the tail is longer than that of a poorwill. However, it was also said that a better look would be necessary to be sure.

Have a look! What do you think? Have you seen a common nighthawk recently? What is your best educated guess?