071022 The Express-Star, Birding Today

https://www.chickashanews.com/news/birding-today-birds-sensitive-to-changes-in-climate/article_56ffb2bd-6e43-53fa-9082-367bbc409b18.html 

031322 Muskogee Edition, Birding Today

https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/lifestyles/birding-today-whip-poor-will-populations-on-the-decline/article_fb3d8062-ef46-51d8-ab73-12a7e3296416.html 

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Common Nighthawk

Easily seen around fields, ponds, lakes, and other open clearings, the Common Nighthawk has a familiar peent, peent, peent that you will easily learn to recognize.  Even though "hawk" is in the name of this bird, it is not a hawk, but a nighthawk in the nightjar family.  In comparison to nightjars, they have smaller heads, long pointed wings, and are seen during the day, as opposed to only being noticed at night or twilight (crepuscular).

Seen all over the continental US, they are solitary birds and form groups when migrating or foraging.  They are quite conspicuous during daylight hours, but once they are at rest upon the ground on upon a tree branch, their cryptic coloration keeps them very well hidden.

The most remarkable thing about the bullbat is the tiny bill, which can open into a gaping cavern.   During courtship, males also perform a stunning aerial display for females.  The bullbat performs steep dives with downflexed wings and ending in a rush of air that creates a booming sound.  It can be heard in the above video, which is one reason why it was chosen to illustrate this piece.

                                                                Common Nighthawk
                                                                 Aransas NWR, 2016

The bugeater often takes advantage of the attraction of insects to street- or stadium lights.  They are almost exclusively insectivores, though it is rare that they may consume vegetation.

There is no nest that is built, as the two eggs are lain directly upon flat ground in the forest.  The female can move them several feet from the original position.  Both sexes incubate in day and night shifts, as well as tend to the needs of the young.  Feeding is done by regurgitation, and the young are kept on a night shift.  Eggshells are removed or consumed to keep predators away from the area.

Even if a carnivore is in close proximity, the nest will rarely be abandoned.  If so, it is done with much fanfare and consternation.  Domestic animals, snakes, owls, hawks, crows, coyotes, raccoons, etc. are the usual culprits.

Pesticides and the lack of gravel roofs are contributing problems to localized declines.  Many rubber roofs now have gravel pads for this reason.

The Mysterious Oilbird of Central and Northern South America

What bird in the world provides oil for torches and is also a food source?  What single bird species lives in the darkness, regurgitates its food when it returns home, and finds its way thro echolocation like a bat AND belongs to the nightjar family?

Welcome to the world of highly remarkable and unusual birds brought to you strictly by natural selection.

These nocturnal fruit eaters, like bats, emit clicking sounds that can be heard by the human ear in
the range of 2 kHz.  This bird is mostly red-brown, black barring with white spots, and fossils have been found in France in Europe and Wyoming in the United States, making it much more widely distributed.  The species also clings to vertical surfaces, making it also similar to swallows, who also are considered to have nearly non-utile feet, since they spend most of their time in flight.  Light bothers their eyes, since they live in darkness within caves, and they will emit loud screams if they are so disturbed.  The Spanish name that they inherited is guacharo, which translates to "wailer."  They have been known to go as far as 75 miles in search of fruit, which includes figs, tropical laurels, nuts of oil palm, camphor, and incense.

Fruit is regurgitated for the young, which can weigh in the neighborhood of fifty percent more than their parents.  The chicks are the desired birds in view of their fat content regarding oil by natives and the original settlers in their native locales.

These common birds, or birds of least concern, are some of the most unusual examples to be encountered in the world.