What’s in a Name: Chuck-will’s-Widow
10,000 Birds
APRIL 24, 2015
The family name means goat-milker, and indeed all nightjars are sometimes colloquially called goatsuckers, as I’ve learned not to bring up unless I want to keep the weird looks going. European folklore holds that these birds would creep up on goats at night and suck out the milk. Milk snakes get their name from a similar legend.
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