Yesterday my son and I hiked down into Roubideau Canyon on the Old Transfer Bike Trail #251 off the Transfer Road out of Montrose. We saw a Common Poorwill, which are ground nesters, just ahead of us on the ground as we descended down a long sloping portion of the trail. The female was quivering, wings fluttering, and for a moment had me believing the she was really hurt and we were going to pick her up. But as we approached to less than 5 yards, the bird fluttered pitifully just a few yards away. It did this several times, putting on quite a show feigning injury. Then it started to fly moth like a little further ahead of us on the trail. After several of these forays and about 75 yards from the original spot, the female poorwill took flight down below the trail and circled back to the original location with no trouble flying. Wish I had the foresight to have my son follow the poorwill down the trail while I stayed at the original spot - may have been able to locate the nest.
Knew the bird was a Common Poorwill as it showed a large head, white throat, and speckled gray and brown body with no distinct pattern while sitting on the ground. When the bird fluttered and flew a short distance, the gray front of the wing with brown primary and secondary feathers was quite obvious. A male poorwill has noticeable white corners on the tail, while this bird (and females in general) have buffier tail tips that are not near as obvious. Anyway, I'm nominating this bird for an "Academy Award" for the best female actress of the year - Killdeers are a distant second.
We were descending down a long trail that had been an old road at one time. Elevation was about 8,000 feet. The upper side of the trail was woodland pinyon/juniper, while the habitat below the trail was Mountain Shrub with serviceberry, mountain mahogany, and some scrub oak.
Mike Henwood
Grand Junction
Mesa County
hiking in Montrose County
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