LESSER NIGHTHAWK AT DAWN

Each morning as dawn's first glow suffuses into the starry, Orion-dominated eastern sky I'm out jogging on the asphalt road to Tekit. Usually a Pauraque calls from out in the scrub, a hoarse p'weeEER, p'weeEER... Pauraques are like eastern North America's Whip-poor- wills, but much larger. Here we also have Yucatan Poorwills and Yucatan Nightjars -- both endemic and both Whip-poor-will look-alikes -- but I haven't heard them yet.

Also nearly every morning as I'm jogging back into town half an hour later, when the sky is bright but the sun still isn't up, I meet a Lesser Nighthawk. Nighthawks belong to the same nocturnal bird family as the poor-wills, the Goatsucker Family, or Caprimulgidae. Nighthawks are different from Whip-poor-will-like birds in that their wings are relatively long and pointed, while Whip-poor-will wings are rounded. Nighthawks soar and swoop, while poor-wills usually are glanced erupting from the forest floor, then quickly diving back into shelter, where they're wonderfully camouflaged against the brown, leafy forest floor.

My Lesser Nighthawk always greets me in the same spot, just beyond the eastern side of town. Silently he zigzags through the morning air, swooping and diving for insects, sometimes soaring down the road right at me before lifting over my head. I don't know whether he's playing with me or I just happen to be in his flight path.

Lesser Nighthawks are notably smaller than the Common Nighthawks I'm used to in North America, and which may be passing through here soon on thier way to overwintering grounds in South America. The Lesser Nighthawk's smaller size is apparent because its zigzagging is much nimbler than a larger bird could manage.

Jogging back into town I'm tired and sweat stings my eyes. My running shoes beat an ever more plodding cadence on the asphalt, and I just can't take my eyes off the nighthawk. I do so admire his agility and alertness to insects I can't even see, and the way he always shows up at the same spot at the same time each morning, like me.