And dark was a necessary condition if I was to succeed in my mission--to hear, on this mid-June, early-evening hike in the southeast section of the Dwarf Pine Plains of Westhampton, the onomatopoeic songs of whip-poor-wills (Caprimulgus vociferus) and chuck-will's-widows (Caprimulgus carolinensis), two of the three species of "goatsuckers" that occur in New York State.
The goatsuckers, which include common nighthawks (Chordeiles minor), the third member of this family found in New York, belong to the Caprimulgidae family.
With goatsuckers on my mind, I hiked east through the pine-scented woodlands on a series of sandy trails and roads for nearly two miles, finally coming to a "T" intersection.
Goatsuckers nest in unprotected open settings on the ground.
Most of the 70 or so goatsucker species dwell in tropical climes, and their number includes several birds in which the muted males undergo astonishing changes at courtship time.
The daylight aerial displays of the pennant-winged nightjar, which is said to be voiceless, take the place of the nocturnal arias of other goatsuckers. Indeed, the whip-poor-will, chuck-will's-widow and poorwill are named for their strident territorial calls.
Whip-poor-wills, like most goatsuckers, usually are heard but not seen: They're as silent on the wing as owls, their closest relatives on the avian evolutionary tree.
If the "
goatsucker" does exist, he believes, it's probably a result of genetic experimentation which has escaped from a remote laboratory.
Occurring all around us now is a migration of hundreds of millions - warblers, thrushes, flycatchers, swallows, swifts, vireos, orioles, cuckoos, hummingbirds,
goatsuckers, tanagers and grosbeaks - on a scale exponentially vaster than the wildebeest migration, filling our night skies as they head south to the tropics to winter.
Some birds like flycatchers,
goatsuckers, and woodpeckers have bristles, specialized feathers on the face which are thought to help protect the eyes during food capture.
Tapeta lucidum in the eyes of
goatsuckers (Caprimulgidae).
It was once believed that these birds would steal milk from goats during the night, hence their once common family name,
goatsuckers. In reality, these birds eat insects which they pick out of the air.