This nocturnal species is seldom-seen, sometimes known by its call on summer evenings or as a blur fluttering quickly up from secondary roads.

Cryptic mottled, brownish-gray plumage helps it to blend in with dry, barren ground and to conceal it from predators. Common poorwills are smaller and shorter-tailed than other nightjars; when observed in the air, their flight resembles a moth or bat, noiseless and low over the ground.

Locally common east of the Cascades, they are rare farther west in Josephine County. They are commonly found along the Snake, Wenaha and lower Grande Ronde rivers.

Hear the call of the Common poorwill

Photo by Dominic Sherony, Flickr