CHUCK WILLS WIDOW confirmed again seen flying above pines up stairs from Maryland monument per Rob Jett during dusk look. Previously seen by multiple observers during morning.
See Rob 's excerpt account from his NYS Listserve posting:
"We were slowly making our way up the curved
roadway that ascents Lookout Hill from Center Drive.
Passing a boxelder tree, I reminded Seth of the Townsend's
Warbler he spotted there back on April 25, 2009.
For whatever reason, our group stopped several yards
up the road from that point, at the ridge just north
of the Maryland Monument stairway. I don't know who,
but someone shouted something about a nightjar.
I looked down the ridge and saw a robin chasing a very
large, rufous nightjar through the trees from left to right.
The bird circled around and came to rest briefly on a
tree up and to our right.
Several of us got very good looks at a bird that
was significantly larger than the robins and nearly
uniformly reddish-brown on its upper body, head and
wings. After a moment, it spooked again, flew back and
forth in front of us, then appeared to come down in the
trees not far from where we first observed it. At this
point there were 10 of us searching for where it came down.
Unfortunately, we never relocated it.
Fast forward to this evening. Heydi and I decided to go
back to that spot at dusk, wait for the sun to go down
then play a chuck call to see if it would respond. At
around 8:15pm, while standing approximately where we
first spotted it, we played the call and waited a minute.
Nothing. We played it again. This time the bird flew up off
the ridge and over Heydi's head. A couple of robins chased
after it (not sure why the robins feel threatened by this bird).
It circled around then headed in the direction of the Butterfly
Meadow. We left the park, very happy."
Kingsboider note: This is a southern breeding species, found in the pine barrens type habitats.It is likely the second such record for Prospect, pending a records check.
for more , check this link ----> http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chuck-wills-widow/id
