Aripo Livestock Station 4/6--COMMON PAURAQUE, WHITE-TAILED NIGHTJAR

Tropical Screech-Owl
Photo: Shari Zirlin

We went back to the Aripo Livestock Station at night in order to do some night-birding. Rudy & Kim walked up and down the entrance road searching for a screech-owl. The old roost had been cut down, so they weren't certain they'd find one, but eventually Rudy, somehow, located one. I don't usually see owls lit up and don't feel comfortable when it's done, but the opportunity was just too good to pass up, so Shari took a few shots herself, while Lon and Kim used their much more sophisticated lenses to get some astonishingly good shots.

Along the road we had traveled a couple days before we could hear a large flock of Southern Lapwings calling. I also heard, while they were looking for the owl, a COMMON PAURAQUE call beyond a barn. Eventually we found quite a few, just sitting on the road, along with a 3 WHITE-TAILED NIGHTJARS, and a few Common Potoos. It was also the only time I have ever gone birding with a guard. A security guard from Asa Wright followed us up and down the road in his pick-up truck, protecting us from what threat I don't know and care not to know.