Strange Birds.....?

[neilether]

We did a night ride last night and we kept running into (not literally, but uncomfortably close a couple of times) little birds that I haven't seen before. They were about the size of a really big grapefruit and had these funky orange eyes reflecting our lights.

I had never seen them before but they were all over. We saw 6 of them in a 30 minute span and another guy driving the parallel jeep road said he saw at least 10 of them that same night. They definitely weren't grouse, chukar, quail, or any other game bird that I'm familiar with. I'm wondering if it wasn't some type of owl....It's just weird that I've never seen these bird on this trail before and to have them there in such large quantities was strange.

Any ideas as to what they may have been? I don't have any pictures, so this exercise may be futile, but maybe somebody has also run across them recently.

[nd11nc]

Were they BATS?

[neilether]

I've seen my fair share of bats, and these definitely weren't bats.

[Last Child]

Nighthawk?

Very rare in Utah but if you were in Green Canyon maybe one of these.

http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah...ipPoorWill.htm

[denaliguide]

next time try to hit one. all in the name of science of course. makes the identification so much easier. you can also see what they taste like.

[Deuce]

Here snipe....snipe....snipe...snipe.....

[Last Child]

Here snipe....snipe....snipe...snipe.....

[neilether]

Here snipe....snipe....snipe...snipe.....

Very nice! I checked out the pictures of the Whipoorwill and am reasonably confident that is the bird. Interesting that the first confirmed sighting of these birds in Utah happened to be in Green Canyon last year. We were riding in Green Canyon when we saw them.