How do baby Common Poorwills stay dry when it rains?

[David Suddjian]

Their mom or dad shelters them with their wings! 

This is what we observed at the Common Poorwill nest in Ken Caryl Valley when we revisited it on July 27, for the first visit since July 20 when there had been two very new chicks in the nest. We arrived just before sunset on July 27 -- and about 30 minutes after some early evening rains -- and found one of the adults sheltering the two chicks under its wings, with just their black bills and the very fronts of the heads and breasts projecting out. The brooding adult was wet, and the exposed parts of the chicks were wet, too. The adult did not flush from the chicks, which on this day were 8-9 days old. [Photo below]. It is tempting to say that is Mom with her young, but both male and female take part in the brooding of the chicks, so maybe it was Dad. [Note: the normal two eggs in the clutch are laid one day apart. Incubation begins when the first egg is laid, and that egg usually hatches one day ahead of the other. Thus, it is likely one chick is one day older than the other.]

7/27/2018 (ph. Karen Drozda). The brooding adult is the dark form facing right at center (note wet feathers on crown), and the head and breast of the chick under its left wing is the pale fuzzy form showing on the right side of the blade of grass that is directly in front of the front of the adult.

The July 27 location of the chicks was different than on July 20, but was again a patch of open bare ground, a little bit farther from the nest scrape than the July 20 position of the chicks. 

I returned on the evening of July 28 (no rain) hoping to better document the appearance of the chicks. They had again moved position, this time about 2 feet from the prior day, again to an open spot, this one covered by old fallen oak leaves. The adult was again brooding or sheltering the chicks, but now flushed readily from the chicks when I was about 10 feet away, flying about 15 feet from the chicks and landing just out of view.. The young, now 9-10 days old, were in plain view, sitting huddled against each other, eyes partly opened. While I was quickly taking a few images, one of the two chicks, perhaps the older one, made a sudden defensive threat display toward me with a rapid snake-like jab of the head while opening wide its vast gape, and flashing open its wings. It was quite startling! The two chicks appeared vigorous and lively, and I departed. At 9-10 days old, the chicks are mostly covered with the gray/tan/white mottled patterning of the adults (but paler) and they are very camouflaged. [Photo below]

7-28-2018. The two chicks at 9-10 days old. I think the one on the right is the older of the two.

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO