Common Poorwill

About the Common Poorwill

The common poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii) is a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, the nightjars. It is found from British Columbia and southeastern Alberta, through the western United States to northern Mexico. The bird's habitat is dry, open areas with grasses or shrubs, and even stony desert slopes with very little vegetation.

Many northern birds migrate to winter within the breeding range in central and western Mexico, though some remain further north. The common poorwill is the only bird known to go into torpor for extended periods (weeks to months). This happens on the southern edge of its range in the United States, where it spends much of the winter inactive, concealed in piles of rocks. Such an extended period of torpor is close to a state of hibernation and is not known among other birds.

The common poorwill was illustrated and formally described in 1844 by the ornithologist John James Audubon from a male specimen collected on the eastern bank of the Missouri River between Fort Pierre and mouth of the Cheyenne River in South Dakota. Audubon coined the binomial name Caprimulgus nuttallii, choosing the specific epithet to honour a friend, the ornithologist... Wikipedia →