This morning when I stepped out of our backdoor (SW France), there was a Nightjar sitting on the concrete about four feet from me. It stayed still for about 5 seconds and then flew off. Took my breath away to be so close to one in the wild in such strange surroundings. It was such a fantastic thing to be able to see all its intricately marked plumage at such close range.
No photo I'm afraid. Has anyone else come across one in similar circumstances or is this as rare an experience as it felt?
A Nightjar encounter
Nope. You've been very lucky!
That is exciting to see! I looked it up and it looks like and amazing bird. Unfortunately I do not recall any instant like that. I had a friend that would point out more unusal things to me. It was helping to train my eye. But, unfortunately she moved away. I would agree, it was a rare event.
One of those magic moments in life I shall always remember :oD
The amazing thing was how close I was to it and how close to the house it was - literally 2 yards from the door!
That sounds so cool! I agree, it will be a moment to remember.
Hi there Karen
Hope you saw http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/459156/
.....and hope you're having a really good day :oD
I didn't see the other link, I will go look.
This is my favourite nightjar :-D
Honeymoor
LOL - is your name Poohmoor Bear by any chance??
More like Winterpoo ;-)
Ah, well the honey will remind you of summer ;)
Have not had a nightjar encounter Philomel but this morning I was out in our garden, we had two very early storms move in here this past week [ blessed rain] have not had any rain since March of this year, so all was parched...On a day like today [not the song] I love living here..brilliant blue skies, puffy white clouds, hills alive with colour, birds singing, everything in the garden looking so lovely,..Later when I came inside was in our sun room looking through our lovely clean glass roof [ my hubby had been out there in the rain with his yellow slicker on really giving the glass a good clean complete with long handled car brush and hose]..which it really needed..anyhow, I was most intrigued by the sounds of birds squawking..when I looked up a flock of [ I think ?] crows attacking one of our resident red tailed hawks..boy they were dive bombing it and really having a go...the hawk was just circling overhead..in the middle of all of this comes a flock of Canadian geese flying past...have not seen them in years...I was so thrilled to have this opportunity to see them again, had it not been for the other birds making such a commotion wouldn't have seen the geese...was thinking God is in his heaven and all is well with the world [ well, for a moment is was]...
Ps had such a good chuckle seeing that jar of honey...yes, that would be a great nightjar encounter...[ very healthy one too] smile..
What a fantastic moment for you, everything just came together. I'm waiting for the geese over here too, and a friend told me that there will be cranes soon flying over at night with an amazingly romantic sound accompaniment
Yes, Wintermoor can be guaranteed to raise a smile wherever he posts ;oD
Thinking about what you were saying earlier about the nightjar encounter being a rare experience...because this is how I feel so privileged to see this and for the opportunity to have such wonderful moments like these happen for us...there is not the wildlife around here that there used to be... The cranes are so wonderful, they have some here too, but have not seen any of them yet in person only on TV programes..We do get a variety of blue heron and Calif.brown Pelican ending up in our back garden BUT they are after my fish so am not really excited about them except in the past when we saw them down at the wharfs and up the coast, and they were so 'cute' [ they are still cute but do not want them to catch my fish]..I have to remember they are part of nature tho, but they are pesky and very determined...
Yes, sometimes the privilege of visits by wild creatures doesn't really feel like a privilege.
Have you got some good photos though?
I remember watching the pelicans in the West Indies. In fact they were perching near where we were snorkelling and diving over our boat. Strange birds, very awkward looking until you see them underwater....
The pelicans are strange birds, they always look so good on photographs tho' don't you think, especially in San Fransisco where they have such an array of birds...but there is an atmosphere up there too, with the fog, sea fret, and the busy wharfs and markets..you just seem to notice more [ and lots of history which always intrigues me] I guess we love being out of doors and visiting...
I have a brand new camera [ which is still in its box :( have not checked it out yet]..my hubby tells me there is a video inside explaining it...but you know my son will be down here in a couple of weeks and easier for me to have him show me how [ I still have your instructions which I printed out for posting the pics]...One particular heron [very cheeky] used to stand outside of our patio door, kick the door with its foot [ I used to think the door was going to cave in ..it sounded so loud..the thuds] I was under the impression it wanted attention.. like a ''fish'', however my hubby explained that it could see its reflection in the glass door and probably thought another bird was there so the other bird was getting kicked [?] that makes more sense, but I prefer to think of it being a little bit house trained...:) m
ps had to take pics and I did but have no idea where they would be..if I do possibly come across them will see what I can do...:) LOL