While walking near our jungle lodge in Belize, I accidentally spooked a Common Pauraque (a type of nightjar). For those unfamiliar with this species, they are nocturnal, and spend daylight hours roosting on the ground, often out in the open thanks to some brilliant camouflage. When she flew, Mom exposed a chick, also well hidden in the leaf litter. I wasn’t happy about scaring away the adult, so I quickly leaned over and snapped a couple shots before leaving the site. It’s probably the first and last pauraque chick I’ll ever see.
Very cool find and, like Mark, I hope mom came back soon. I always feel a trifle guilty when I’ve startled an animal, but I don’t push the envelope much either. Terrific angle on this to show just how safely hidden they really are. In the smallest view it’s difficult to tell what you were taking a picture of, but larger it reveals nature’s amazing adaptation. I’ve never seen any nightjar species IRL, but when I lived in NH there were Whip-poor-wills in the common land at the end of the street and it was nice and sometimes annoying to hear that constant call.
