Nightjar Food

Who says all moths are dull-colored night fliers? On a recent visit to Adams County we found this beautifully colored moth flying in the early evening, well before dark. Seems to me it was just begging to be picked off by some gap-mouthed nightjar, either a Whip-poor-will or Chuck-will's-widow.

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Called the Common Spring Moth, or Heliomata cycladata it was well worth stopping for a photograph of this quarter-sized insect. It had a striking white, saddle-like marking edged with blueish specks. Moths often capture my attention as they are close relatives of butterflies. However, with over 10,000 species of moth in North America, I am not very confident in my ability to learn them all, and that is one of the main reasons I stick to butterflies! When I do need to sort a moth out from the crowd, I go to Moth Photographer's Group and use their amazing data base. I can flip through hundreds and hundreds of photos until I find a similar family on which to to hone my search.

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The previous day, a few of us were out botanizing when we flushed a Chuck-will's-widow off its nest. I think "nest" is a pretty generous term for this unstructured egg clutch. Nearly the size of a small chicken egg, I figured it would take at least four for an omelet (Just kidding- no hate mail!!!)

"Chucks" have been a target of interest for me for about 5 years now. In fact, it has been a bit of an nemesis-bird. I have made numerous night trips to Adams County to cruise back roads with my car windows rolled down, listening for their calls.

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The next day, I stood face to beak- at a safe respectful distance- with my newest Ohio "life-bird". We were able to safely view our little "widow" brooding her eggs, through a high powered scope. She is difficult to find and even quite cryptic in this frame filling shot. Follow the dark line from the centered plant across to the right, and you will find her beak smack dab in the middle. She lies facing us, with her tail extending back to the left.
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Thanks to Kathy McDonald for sharing the photo we took through the scope (her camera- I pushed the button.) And thanks to all the great folks who helped with the OOS Breeding Bird Workshop at the Edge of Appalachia. We met some new friends, and saw some wonderful birds, plants, butterflies, and much, much more. I'll be spreading the blog fodder out for the next couple of days!