Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tale that they sucked the milk from goats, or bugeaters, their primary source of food being insects. Some New World species are called nighthawks. The English word "nightjar" originally referred to the European nightjar.
In pre-Columbian Maya civilization, ceremonial dance had great importance. However, since dance is a transient art, it is inherently difficult for archeologists to find and evaluate evidence of its role. There is little material information left behind, beyond a few paintings on murals and vases. This lack of direct evidence leads to several different archaeological interpretations.
The Chuckwalla Mountains are a mountain range in the transition zone between the Colorado Desert—Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert, climatically and vegetationally, in Riverside County of southern California.
The common poorwill is a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, the nightjars. It is found from British Columbia and southeastern Alberta, through the western United States to northern Mexico. The bird's habitat is dry, open areas with grasses or shrubs, and even stony desert slopes with very little vegetation.
Edmund Carroll Jaeger, D.Sc., was an American biologist known for his works on desert ecology. He was born in Loup City, Nebraska to Katherine and John Philip Jaeger, and moved to Riverside, California in 1906 with his family. He was the first to document, in The Condor, a state of extended torpor, approaching hibernation, in a bird, the common poorwill. He also described this in the National Geographic Magazine.
Matagorda is a census-designated place in Matagorda County, Texas, United States. It is located near the mouth of the Colorado River on the upper Texas coast in the United States. In 2020, its population was 313. Matagorda is primarily a tourist town, with commercial and recreational fishing being the top industries. Approximately 23 miles (37 km) of the beach are accessible by vehicle and 35 additional miles are accessible only by boat. Matagorda is at the end of State Highway 60 and the beginning of Farm to Market Road 2031, which runs over the Intracoastal Waterway and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Caprimulginae or typical nightjars are a nocturnal bird subfamily within the nightjar family, Caprimulgidae. They are medium-size with long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They usually nest on the ground. They feed on flying insects.
Hawking is a feeding strategy in birds involving catching flying insects in the air. The term usually refers to a technique of sallying out from a perch to snatch an insect and then returning to the same or a different perch, though it also applies to birds that spend almost their entire lives on the wing. This technique is called "flycatching" and some birds known for it are several families of "flycatchers": Old World flycatchers, monarch flycatchers, and tyrant flycatchers; however, some species known as "flycatchers" use other foraging methods, such as the grey tit-flycatcher. Other birds, such as swifts, swallows, and nightjars, also take insects on the wing in continuous aerial feeding. The term "hawking" comes from the similarity of this behavior to the way hawks take prey in flight, although, whereas raptors may catch prey with their feet, hawking is the behavior of catching insects in the bill. Many birds have a combined strategy of both hawking insects and gleaning them from foliage.
The eared poorwill is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is endemic to Mexico.
The ocellated poorwill is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru.
The Chocó poorwill is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.
The Yucatan poorwill is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in the Yucatán Peninsula of Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.
The Jamaican poorwill, also known as the Jamaican pauraque or Jamaican least pauraque, is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is endemic to Jamaica and has not been recorded since 1860.
Siphonorhis is a genus of nightjars, known as the Caribbean pauraques, in the family Caprimulgidae.
The least poorwill or least pauraque is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae, and the only confirmed extant species of its genus. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The Yucatán moist forests are an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund.
The Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve is an ecological reserve in the provinces of Esmeraldas and Manabí, Ecuador. It protects a mountainous area in the transition from tropical rain forest in the north to dry forest in the south. It contains the Cube Lagoon, which has been designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance.
Ría Celestun Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in Mexico. It is located on the northwestern Yucatán Peninsula in the states of Yucatán and Campeche. The reserve is home to extensive mangrove wetlands, and rich in birds and other wildlife.
