If you really want to see all of the birds in North America, you have to venture out at night. While most birds are active during the day and sleep at night, many of the 19 species of owls and 8 species of nighthawks are only active when it’s dark. I spent my last night in Michigan tracking down and observing Eastern Whip-poor-wills, a member of the nighthawk family (some people call this group of birds nightjars or goatsuckers).
I tried to record some audio that night and embed it in a powerpoint presentation (the basic wordpress blog does not allow direct uploading of audio and video files unless you pay them a lot more $$$), and then added the .ppt file to my blog (click on the link below!). I’ve never tried this before, so this is a test. You’ll need to download the file by clicking on the link, and then run the presentation as a slide show. You’ll probably have to turn up the volume on your computer (the recording is very quiet) to hear the Whip singing. The photo is the woods where I found them just after sunset.
