On this still, windless night the forest is silent. The trees watch, like inscrutable sentries. Moths flutter past silently, gossamer scraps pale against the darkness. Bats swoop soundlessly, dusky shadows whose voices are beyond our hearing. It seems that the creatures that stalk the night woods are mostly unseen and unheard. But the forest isn’t quite silent. There is a whirring in the air, something that you wouldn’t really notice unless your attention is drawn to it. Something that sounds alien and a little eerie. It seems to be coming from the trees – all of the trees, as though the air itself is singing. Listen, and you’ll hear it too…
This is the sound of the dreaded goatsucker, the corpse fowl. It is said that this creature steals milk from the udders of goats. That it sheathes the souls of unbaptized children, haunting eternity. And kills calves by giving them puckeridge disease. It flies only by night, resting on the ground in daylight, protected by its camouflage. Each year, it makes the long journey from Africa to sojourn here, a nocturnal shadow to the day-time swallow. It is a creature of myth and witchery, yet in reality it is only a bird: the enigmatic Nightjar.
The Nightjar’s reputation is beguiling but untrue. It feeds on moths and insects and it is thought that its notoriety as a milk snatcher originates from its habit of nesting on the ground around livestock. Puckeridge disease is caused, not by the Nightjar, but by an insect. But the Nightjar is rarely seen, due to its nocturnal nature and don’t all creatures of the night deserve their own myths?
On this night, we walk darkened paths, the pines looming in front of us darker still. We have night vision telescopes, which illuminate the darkness in a square of sickly yellow light. So much light soaking the eyes makes it difficult to see once you look away from the telescope and my vision is blurred by the end of the walk. We can see in the dark, but we don’t see the Nightjar. Despite all our technology, perhaps we aren’t meant to see what lurks in the night.
But there, in the hedgerow, is another kind of light. Cold, green pinpricks, so bright they shouldn’t be natural. As bright as fairy lights and indeed, these are the creatures that the fey carried as lanterns, so that they could dance through the night. But the light of the glow worm isn’t meant for the fairies or for us. It is the lure of the female, who will glow for just a week or two until she has attracted a mate and laid her eggs. Once this is done, she will put out her light and die.
Perhaps some things aren’t meant to be witnessed by human eyes. We conjure myths from half-seen things and unexplained sounds in the darkness. And this is part of the magic of the world. That they exist, but we can know only a fraction of their mystery. That we can create stories to comfort us in our lack of knowing. I’m glad I heard the call of the Nightjar, but in a way, I’m happy I didn’t see it. Instead, the mystery is intact, sailing on into the darkness.
Like you, I think that some things have to remain mysterious, and even a little scary, so we can create myths and stories to reassure us and give a sense to the mystery of our natural world. Beautiful writing, as always, Andrea.
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Thanks Evelyne, it must have been quite a scary sound for those in the past that had no explanation for it – and the glow worms too – they don’t look like a natural light at all, so our ancestors must have been quite unnerved by them.
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Not knowing does have it’s good points! 🙂
The sound is a lot like the “jar flies” we had way back in Georgia. They could raise quite a ruckus.
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I have heard it compared to insects Teagan. I think there’s a similar bird known as a whippoorwill in the US, but its song is quite different.
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Wonderful post Andrea 🙂 I find it so interesting how some myths have travelled! for example I think the Nightjar myth must be truly ancient as I came across this myth in my travels through Portugal and Spain. Maybe the Romans spread that story?
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Thanks Yolanda – I believe the story was first recorded by Aristotle, so ancient indeed.
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Wow! What a vivid combination of images, sounds, pictures and words–a true call of the nightjar–and a wonderful post! Excellent!
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Thanks Marylin, tried a bit of multimedia in this post! The sound was completely unknown to me until a few nights ago, so I had to share it.
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I didn’t know any of that about the nightjar, that’s so fascinating. I absolutely love that John R Neill picture – it reminds me of stories from my childhood. Thanks Andrea for another mystical post!
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Thanks Jenny – mystical, I like that 🙂 I’d vaguely heard of the nightjar but didn’t know anything about it a week ago, I was inspired by hearing its sound!
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Well you already know how much I love fairies and all things mysterious living in the woods Andrea, so I loved this post. I always had a fascination for the Nightjar, my dad used to tell stories of this secretive bird that very few had ever seen and as with his stories about the red fox, I had wild childhood imaginings about it and it’s apparent powers, so what you shared here intrigued me. I had forgotten what it sounded like too. Very eerie! How wonderful that you can go out at night like this, and to see glowworms too! Nice to know that the mystery is still intact, lovely post, thank you taking us through this mystical walk in the woods with you 🙂
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Yes, you did cross my mind when I wrote this one Sherri, as soon as I found out about the fairies using glow worms as lanterns! I love that your dad would tell you stories about Nightjars and foxes, they’re magical enough to me as an adult, but must have seemed even more magical as a child. I’ve heard that it can be quite easy to see a Nightjar if you’re in the right place at the right time – that they’re not all that phased by watchers, but that night they were content just to sing 🙂
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You write beautifully with magic of your own 🙂
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Thank you Wendy 🙂
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You do write beautifully. Even though it sort of creeped me out, I had to read the whole thing. 🙂 (testimony to your talent!)
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Thanks Tracy – it’s such an eerie sound, had to build in a little creepiness 🙂
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wonderful post and photos Andrea and right up my alley ( or garden path)! “From ghosties and ghoulies and long legged beasties , things that go thump in the night- good lord preserve us!!) a Scottish prayer lol.
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Thank you, yes, there’s nothing like myth and magic to intrigue me too.
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ps: I love the fairy lanterns!!
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There were just a few very lovely illustrations of glow worms I found online which has kindled an interest for me in vintage illustrations.
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Lovely piece of writing Andrea, and accompanying images. And yes, we don’t want every sight and sound explained – the world remains a better place for its mysteries.
Here is an appropriate soundtrack to your post, an early Elton John song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzYgHQluatY
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Thanks Roy, I’m impressed that you made that connection to the song! I’d never heard it before – not a big fan of Elton but I do like that one and love the lyrics of the first verse.
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Andrea I enjoyed this walk on the dark path, I am fascinated by myths and legends thanks for an entertaining if not a little scary read.
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Thanks Kath, I always tend to look for the myth and magic in everything, I just find it wonderful that we have all these stories to draw on.
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Oh my goodness, this took quite a turn! Loved it! 🙂
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Thanks Luanne 🙂
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I love the look of your site!
This is a lovely post. I was unfamiliar with the story behind the nightjar. I agree with you about the beauty of mystery, and how stories evolve from not knowing everything about everything.
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Thanks Kate, it was a fresh look for spring! Yes, as much as I want my curiosity satisfied I always like to keep a little mystery, which brings the world to life, I think.
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Beautiful post…gives me goosebumps!
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Thank you, I’m glad you liked it 🙂
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What a fascinating post. No doubt Nightjars are found near the cattle as they have a particular liking for the Puckeridge-disease-giving insects! I’ve seen glow worms and they’re always a good sign, as it means nobody has been spraying nasty pesticides anywhere in the vicinity.
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Yep, the theory is that maybe one was once seen plucking an insect from a goat’s udder and that could be where the story came from! I’m so glad I got to see a glow worm – would never have known what it was, the light was so surprising. I reported it to the UK glow worm survey who say it’s a new site (not necessarily that they haven’t been there before of course, it may just be that nobody has reported them before), so that’s good news.
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Quite an eery birdie that goatsucker..never heard of the Nightjar before but from now on I’ll keep my ears open at night. I don’t know if it lives around this area but, boy sure the night is NOT so quiet at all over here as well. Crickets, bullfrogs, owls.. And oow yes, I love that last part you wrote Andrea about some things are not be witnessed by human eyes so as to keep the mystery in tact. Sometimes the need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.
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The US version of a Nightjar is a whippoorwill, I believe, but it doesn’t sound anything like this European Nightjar! We did have some tawny owls calling as well that night, but otherwise silence – which of course just makes you wonder what’s happening silently in the darkness…I so agree with that last statement that the need for mystery is sometimes greater than the need for an answer 🙂
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Something is not right about that Nightjar:) His name in Russian means The one who is milking goats:) And as I read in the comments, many nations suspect him in doing that:)
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Yes, I think the same myth is told in various countries 🙂
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I love the multimedia approach to this post—the audio of the nightjar while I was reading added another layer of mystery and magic.
Like you, I hope there will always be some mystery in the universe. Not of a kind that causes humans to lash out violently against what we don’t understand and fear. But of the kind that reminds us that there is so much more to the universe than our small planet and that we’re all part of a greater whole.
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Thanks JM, it’s certainly an atmospheric sound. I think that if we knew everything, the world would be so much less interesting – still wonderful, but exploring it gives us a purpose.
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Lovely imagery. Especially loved how you ended with “We conjure myths from half-seen things and unexplained sounds in the darkness. And this is part of the magic of the world.” Nice job.
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Thanks Lori. I do love the way myths develop from things we find mysterious.
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What a magical post…love it! Too bad for the girly glow worm though. It’s like a romantic tragedy.
I, too, appreciate the mystery of the world and don’t feel like I need to see everything. Only a couple of years ago I saw fireflies for the first time. It was insanely awesome. I’m probably the only person who has never seen a shooting star. I’m always with people when they see one, yet by the time I look up, it’s long gone. In a way, I like that.
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Thanks Britt – it is a tragedy isn’t it! The thought of her sadly turning off her light before she dies…They don’t even have any mouthparts so in all their short life they don’t eat and whereas the males can fly, she has to stay grounded and wave her light for him to find her. I imagine fireflies must be amazing to see – I would love to see that. Perhaps you’ll see a shooting star just at the perfect time…the right star is waiting for you 🙂
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Here in the US (Minnesota) our member of the nightjar (aka dreaded goatsucker) family is called “The Nighthawk”. I heard my first one of this year while walking before dawn this just morning! from wikipedia with notes added by me: “Its call is a short, harsh, buzzy [“Peent”] sound. The white bands on its underwings are easily seen [flashing in the dark sky] as it flies in the evening….. Also of note is nighthawks’ mating ritual. Males will gain considerable altitude, then perform a power dive; as they pull up from the dive, the wings make a sudden, low sound that is called “booming”.” [that is quite reminiscent of the sound of WWI vintage airplane going into a power dive!!!]
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Thanks for this Cnawan – and how wonderful that you heard one just this morning! I just had a listen on Youtube – it’s actually quite similar but in shorter bursts of sound – and looks very much like the European Nightjar. Ours also apparently make a ‘clapping’ sound with their wings, but I didn’t hear that.
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Hi!:) I enjoy reading your blog, and I have nominated you for an award. Check out the nomination in my latest post : http://www.inesemjphotography.com/news
My very best wishes to you!!! Inese
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Thank you Inese – I don’t usually follow the rules for awards, but I do appreciate you thinking of me and I will link back to you in my next post!
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Oh if you link to someone else too – it would be so nice! When I was only a couple of weeks old blogger, a wonderful person noticed me and linked to my blog. Since then I always support my followers:) We are not writing to themselves, right?:) And some blogs are so inspiring I really want them to be heard.
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Yes, I agree – blogging has opened up a new world for me and that’s in large part because of the support of other bloggers, so I try to contribute to that community as much as I can – by taking part in blog hops and linking to bloggers I like. I’m also trying something new very soon, which is to have my first guest blogger on my blog! So I’m happy to link to someone else too 🙂
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Wow, best of luck with that!
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I’m glad you didn’t see it either. Hearing it proves it exists and lets the mystique remain intact. 🙂 Love the photos of the trees. Eerie and gorgeous.
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Thanks Kourtney, some things have such mystery built around them that it’s all the more evocative when you don’t quite know all there is to know about them 🙂
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Agreed. I never want to see the loch ness monster either. I just want to believe in it. 😉
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We have a bird here in the far north of Australia called a curlew. It makes a sound at night like a child screaming in the paddocks. I only recently saw one and now that scary mystical nightmare is broken! 😀
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I’ll bet that really is an eerie noise – we do have curlews in the UK, but I can’t say I’ve heard one – but if I ever hear a noise like a scream, I’ll comfort myself by thinking it’s just a curlew!
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After I watched the video, several came up for me to choose from: Lindo at Large: Nightjars was a wonderful video (7 1/2 minutes) about catching them (one), tagging it, and checking it all out for general health.
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Glad you found some videos of interest from the link Scott.
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Really lovely narrative, as always, Andrea. Appreciate the depth. I’ve been tossing a draft back and forth in my head, on the power of storytelling. Nature shows us how small we are.
Xxx
Diana
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Thanks Diana – it does indeed, we’re such a tiny part of all that exists, while thinking we’re so important 🙂
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Andrea: I read this post several nights ago but my iPad connection wouldn’t allow me to comment for some reason. This is an amazing piece of writing. Even without the multimedia influence your lyrical, descriptive writing brought the page alive. The chilly bumps ran straight up and down my spine.
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Thanks for those wonderful comments Sheri!
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I enjoyed this post, Andrea, very informative. I always love to hear learn new and interesting things about nature and wildlife, such as the Nightjar and the sound it makes. I wouldn’t have known those were the sounds from a bird. Also, I miss the fireflies. We don’t get them up here at our elevation and not typically seen in the west; however, my daughter has seen them here in Colorado. She has a small wetlands area near her.
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Thanks Pat, yes, it doesn’t really sound natural, does it. And the glow worms also didn’t seem natural – I’d love to see fireflies, they must be magical.
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Not really, Andrea — sounds natural but more like it would be bug sounds rather than bird. It’s interesting and also the folklore once told about them. I saw an interesting piece last week on Sunday Morning about the fireflies. Thought you’d like it — here you go:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/tennessee-fireflies-a-summertime-light-show/
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Just been over to your place Pat and loved the video, thanks for sharing this!
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You’re welcome, Andrea. Thanks for your little story on the glow worm. It prompted me to write this. It was fun to remember those times. 🙂
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Pingback: Shine Little Glow Worm | Plain Talk and Ordinary Wisdom
Lovely, evocative descriptions. We share a love of the wild places.
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Thanks for visiting Geoff and for those kind comments.
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Interesting story, nicely thought and properly wrapped. Well done!
Very best regards,
Salva
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Thank you and thanks for visiting.
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🙂
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Sending love and well wishes your way Andrea, take care of yourself . Much love.💚🙏💚
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Thanks Sue.
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💙🙏💙
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A timely post for me as I heard my first ever nightjar on our holiday in Wales recently and meant to look into them more when I got back (I had heard their eery call in a music track, not so enigmatically called “Nightjar”, but had never heard one myself until then). Yet we heard ours during the day, along a canal bordered by farmers fields in Brecon so that was a little bizarre but no mistaking the sound. What a fascinating load of stories around it!
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The stories are fascinating, but the sound is too, it almost doesn’t sound ‘natural’.
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A fascinating bird that I have heard about but never seen. I think walking in nature is an experience that is just so different from in the daylight that it’s like entering another world. You capture this mystery wonderfully.
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Thanks Denzil, it is a wonderfully strange bird – I haven’t seen one, only heard it!
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Very evocative and inspirational Andrea, second only to being on the Chase with the birds themselves, I have had the pleasure of spending many hours watching and studying these enchanting creatures, and I must say, you’re piece does the whole experience proud. Wonderful.
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Thanks Mick, that must have been fascinating – I’ve still only ever heard them in that one place, which is a forest in North Yorkshire, and still haven’t seen one!
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This is as informative as it is lovely. You certainly have a knack for setting and atmosphere, interspersed with interesting information. The art work and pictures really add to the whole piece.
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Thanks Pat, I’m still thrilled to have heard the nightjar a few times in my life.
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Beautiful writing Andrea ! U drew a picture by words…. Ur writing reminded me of our own Ruskin Bond.
In India,Nightjars are somewhat common in jungles and u do have it’s sighting.
By the way male glowworm dies after the mating,and not the female I suppose.
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Thanks for your visit Shobha, I’m glad to know that nightjars are common where you are.
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Oh, the myths and legends we humans created for the many things we didn’t understand! poor Nightjar. What a reputation to live with.
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Indeed, but at least we know better now (well, in the case of the Nightjar at least)!
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A lovely post about a magical bird. May I reblog this?
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Thanks Clive, yes that’s fine.
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Thanks Andrea – I’m looking to post it some time mid April just as the first Nightjar arrive back in the UK.
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Oh well I managed it before the end of May!
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Thanks for sharing it Clive. Clive, have you been getting my comments – I’ve commented on most of your recent posts but can’t seem to see the comments so wondered if you got them?
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Andrea this is awful and I’m dreadfully sorry but no I haven’t been getting your comments! I really don’t know what can have happened.
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I’ve found them! Or at least some of them – they all got dumped into the bin along with some others. I have tried to recover them and will reply once read. I am so sorry this happened – I still don’t know why – I’ll check the bin more often!
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That’s no problem Clive, I just didn’t want you to think I was ignoring your posts!
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Pingback: Art in Nature • Call of the Nightjar • Nightjar • Birds
“as though the air is singing” what a wonderful expression. Lovely piece.
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Thank you Ashley.
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We have two nightjars I know of in the United States. The Whippoorwill and the Chuckwill’s Widow. They both have beautiful but haunting songs. Nothing as eerie as yours! Wonderful writing!
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Thanks Mary, it’s a very strange song!
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A post of mystery and intrigue. Even the name Nightjar sounds mysterious! And a creature wrongly labelled a culprit, rarely seen, and nocturnal. Love this post.
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Thanks Cynthia.
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Thank you for this wonderful post. It was a delight to read. The nightjar is a bird I have never heard in the wild.
I live on the Isle of Skye and during the Spring and Summer months the snipe flies in the sky. It also has an eerie sound and can be very difficult to see.
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Thank you Sue, I’m happy to ‘meet’ you and have enjoyed reading your posts.
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Thank you Andrea.
Happy writing:)
Sue
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