Whip-Poor-Wills

In the Appalachian hill country there are night birds; they call to each other in the dark yet hunt alone. These birds are not owls but nightjars, they are known also as whip-poor-wills, goatsuckers, or bug-eaters by the locals. When they utter they shiver the ear-hairs of all that harken. When clinging to a tree trunk their dim mottled plumage makes then almost invisible. When they fly they fly with no whisper of wings but in an eerie silence. Some folks around here reckon they are more 'ghosts of the air' than birds, and are bad news. The wise women believe that they can curdle milk and spoil the overnight vittles left on the stove, the menfolk smile knowing it was them that left the food out. The night-birds swoop and flutter without a pitter or a patter until the dawn light reveals them to be nowhere found and still as silent as the stony ground.