# Name That Bird



## Augie (Apr 3, 2005)

My wife took this picture about five years ago, a couple hundred yards behind our house.
What kind is it?
Winner gets a cheers emoicon and elevated self esteem!


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## Hunterrs (Apr 3, 2005)

A hawk?


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## matthewsman (Apr 3, 2005)

*A cardinal on a limb*

If you ignore the Gosshawk in front of it,or osprey,or golden eagle,whatever that raptor is...


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## Augie (Apr 3, 2005)

Robert Sowell said:
			
		

> A hawk?


I believe it's in the hawk family, but that's not the name it's known by.


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## Augie (Apr 3, 2005)

LOL I never even saw the cardinal there before, but it is known by a specific name.
And seldom seen, hint hint..
Actually it's known by two names....


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## matthewsman (Apr 3, 2005)

*That makes it easier*

No google either,Screech and Barn  owl


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## jay sullivent (Apr 3, 2005)

i think it is a night hawk(not whip-poor-will like i first posted). it's beak is flat looking. we used to see them on over dove fields on the evening hunts. a lot of people call them bullbats. there is nothing to give any size reference but the wingspan of a bullbat is 12 inches or so.


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## Augie (Apr 3, 2005)

jay sullivent said:
			
		

> i think it is a night hawk(not whip-poor-will like i first posted). it's beak is flat looking. we used to see them on over dove fields on the evening hunts. a lot of people call them bullbats. there is nothing to give any size reference but the wingspan of a bullbat is 12 inches or so.



You may be right about Nighthawk but I'm pretty sure this is a whippoorwill. her nest was on the ground with 2 eggs, they hatched and I have some not so good shots of the chicks.
And I just found out the other name I thought they were called by, Nightingale, I was mistaken.
However to double check myself I looked up images and came up with this for whippoorwill
http://www.worldbook.com/wc/popup?p...e=html/types_other_goats_memb.html&direct=yes
I'm no Ornothologist but I'm quite sure it's Whippoorwill aka NightHawk


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## Augie (Apr 3, 2005)

Hmmm, Maybe I've been calling a NightHawk a Whippoorwill all these years?




Pic shown for whippoorwill.





Pic shown for NightHawk


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## jay sullivent (Apr 3, 2005)

according to my audubon field guide, a whip-poor-will and nighthawk are 2 different birds!


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## Augie (Apr 3, 2005)

jay sullivent said:
			
		

> according to my audubon field guide, a whip-poor-will and nighthawk are 2 different birds!


 Yes, again my mistake, they are two seperate birds.


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## Augie (Apr 3, 2005)

Still, by the pics shown, I don't see some of the NightHawk markings such a white stripes on the wings and tail feathers. I knew I shouldn't take my wife's word for it....


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## jay sullivent (Apr 3, 2005)

that be true! there are many different birds in the whip-poor-will family as well. the picture may not be enough for a positive I.D.!!


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## rip18 (Apr 4, 2005)

*We do have enough information for a 99% ID...*

There are 3 possibilities, all in the same family: 1. common nighthawk, 2. whip-poor-will, and 3.  chuck-will's-widow.

1.  Common nighthawk - I rule this one out based on the lack of white bars on the wings (see pictures that were posted by someone earlier).  The head size relative to the body seems a little large as well.

2.  Whip-poor-will - I rule this one out based on two things.  First, there is not enough white on the spread tail, but this is difficult to see.  Second, whip-poor-wills do not nest as far south as Levy County.

3.  Chuck-will's-widow - The pointed wing-tips, the lack of white corners on the tail, lack of a defined crown stripe, the documentation of nesting all point to this being a chuck-will's-widow.  

I'm not sure that I ever convinced my grandfather & some of the rest of my family that a chuck-will's-widow ever existed.  Birds in this family were one of 3 things: whippoorwill, bullbat, or goatsucker - none of them being a chuck-will's-widow. 

Pretty neat picture.


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## huntfish (Apr 4, 2005)

matthewsman said:
			
		

> No google either,Screech and Barn  owl


Looks alot like a Screech Owl.


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## coon dawg (Apr 4, 2005)

*..........*

Chuck Will's Widow.


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## Dixie Dawg (Apr 4, 2005)

It's a snipe!!!  


(neat picture though!)

Love,  light & blessings,
Kerri


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## Ga-Spur (Apr 4, 2005)

I believe your bird is a picture of a female Whip-poor-will .


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## jay sullivent (Apr 4, 2005)

rip18 has done his research and i believe he is correct. i was unaware that whipoorwills didn't nest in the mid and lower part of the state, but according to my field guide, they do not.


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## Augie (Apr 5, 2005)

This has been some interesting education for me, as I always assumed it was a whippoorwill.
Thanks for the compliment on the pic as Judy has been proud and lucky to get the shot.
I can't use her 35 mm without wanting to throw it in the swamp and, don't tell her I said this, but we've spent a lot of money on out of focus pics in the 20 years we've been together.
I'm going to try to get some digital shots of the prints of those chicks just for the fun of posting them.
We have so many types of birds on our land and around our ponds that I'm hoping to get some sort of telescopic lens to shoot some pics of them .
I thought the new binocular cameras that are out now might be a less expensive way to go, but I've not read any good reports on any of them as of yet.


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## ugabowhunter (Apr 5, 2005)

not sure what it is, but i know that those night hawks are very territotial birds. they will swoop down at you and some times nip your head. i came across some in florida few years back.


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