The common poorwill is a strange bird in a strange family called nightjars. The family is also called goatsuckers, due to an ...

In Orange County’s scrub country, the nights are ruled by quiet, creeping forms that specialize in navigating a low-light environment. One of them is the common poorwill. Like other nocturnal species, ...

Michael Palin presents the common poorwill from an Arizona desert. In the dead of night, loud calls pierce the stillness on a moonlit track, a small shape suddenly sprouts wings and flutters into the ...

The trip starts with a bang. A Common Poorwill, a bark-colored bird the size of your palm, jumps up from the narrow blacktop and sputters head-on into our pickup’s undercarriage. Lee Hoy, a wildlife ...

Common Poorwill Bird Walk: 7 p.m. June 26, July 3 and 31, Mount Diablo. Meet at Mitchell Canyon Trailhead, 96 Mitchell Canyon Road, Walnut Creek. Denise Wight leads this four-mile, two hour hike. $6 ...