Reply
Mon 8 Aug, 2005 06:03 pm
I just had a Lyre-tailed Nightjar fly through my yard. Yikes!
I've just been trying to google up a good photo of one, but they don't seem to be easily photographed.
I can't find an image either except for the one in my field guide. A nightjar is sort of like a Whipoorwill. This one has a long streaming lyre like tail that is many times it's body length. I hope it comes back so I can have another look.
How big is it, Pitter - and why Yikes! ?
It's not endangered or rare - is it a rare sighting in your area?
76cm long. Yikes because it's a stunning thing to see. Not rare but "uncommon".
Not to divert anyone from Pitter's lyre-tailed nightjar fly, at all, indeed, this is exhilarating..
but did any of you read Jonathan Franzen's bird thing in the new yorker this last week? It's probably not available online now, you have to catch the NY'er stuff in the week it is published (I think), but I bet it is part of an about to be published book.
I was entranced...
I would like to have seen Franzen's story. What was the drift?
Wellll, the book covered his whole life so far, with various mentioning of birds and what seeing them has meant to him (and our world) at different times. I presume it'll come out as a book.
I saw a little bunny wabbit wiggling its nose when I was travelling down a road near home.
Does that count as exciting?
Well here's one I did get a snapshot of this morning:
He's called a Barranquero Coronado.
I love his jewelry!
Great shot, pitter.
Really, I've never seen anything like those tailfeathers...
In English he's called a Mot Mot. Oddly they all nibble away the part of their tail feathers that they can reach.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace