I headed out to Malibu Lagoon post-rain this morning, and while watching Elegant Terns coming in off the ocean, I noticed something else flying down-coast several hundred yards out. It was about robin-sized, dark and plump, with long, rounded wings. Deep, powerful wingbeats. I couldn't fit it into any raptor, and it wasn't round-headed like a Burrowing Owl, but smaller.
With my mind racing and mentally ruling out families of birds it *couldn't be*, I was absolutely stumped until it approached the beach and "tilt-glided" down into some landscaping around the Adamson House just east of the lagoon - nightjar!
I raced over to the grounds of the house, and after poking around a bit, heard and saw the bird, a poor-will, batting against the plaster wall of a courtyard like a trapped moth in the house. It managed to find an opening and sailed over the house and out of sight.
Well, these birds do occur on the Channel Islands (and are on the move in October), but this ranks as one of my most baffling birding moments ever!
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You have a blog!
I've read reports of Between-hell-and-the-white-oaks (Caprimulgus carolinensis) dropping in on Atlantic pelagics. And then there is the TRULY bizarre sighting (even more truly than yours) from 1898 of several Chucks seen off SC aboard a steamer ship...you may have heard this one, where they were purported to alight on the water and (more plausibly) consume migrant warblers.
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