Chirps and Cheeps

As I was heading out to grab the only couple of hours I had to bird today, the news of an Eastern Whip-poor-will quickly changed my course of direction. At a private residence in Burt, New York, sat one of the oddest looking birds I've ever seen. Well-camouflaged, the nightjar sat horizontally along a low limb on a bush - only about 4 feet up from the ground.  Its eyes were closed and it appeared to be sleeping.

I didn't get to see this bird fly nor hear it call but I read that, when it does vocalize, it says its name.  At home later, I played the sound on my phone app and it was rather cool to hear the high-pitched short syllables - "whip-poor-WILL".

Whip-poor-wills are nocturnal, sleeping by day and catching insects by night. The stiff bristle-like feathers around their beaks assist in detecting the insects in their erratic flights of wheeling, circling, gliding, and hovering.

A little birding around the yard also yielded a Blue-headed Vireo, Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, Palm, and Pine Warblers, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and some assorted waterfowl in the way back on the lake.