goatsucker

[prettygoodword]

Continuing theme week! -- snickerbirds, being birds with amusing names. Though fair warning, this week's iteration won't be filled with quite as much innuendo.


goatsucker (GOHT-suhk-er) - n., another name for nightjar.


That is, any of about 80 species of insectivorous, nocturnal or crepuscular birds of family Caprimulgidae with long wings, short legs, and very short bills, including the (whi)poorwills and New World nighthawks -- plus the type species, the European nightjar:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

They've been called goatsuckers since at least the early 1600s after an ancient belief that they suck milk from goats, the name being a translation of Latin caprimulgus (see the family name), itself a translation of Greek aigothḗlas, aigo-, goat + -thēlās, sucker.

---L.

Comments

[loup_noir]

Also, they're really cute. I got a wonderful chance to closely observe one, when it came into the wildlife hospital where I was volunteering. That tiny little beak hides a huge gape.

[prettygoodword]

I've seen pix of that open mouth -- quite unexpected. I'm rather fond of whipoorwills, as it is.