Bird Blurbs - Chuck-Will's-Widow

This is the pilot edition of Bird Blurbs, in which I will talk about a cool bird from somewhere in the world. This week’s Bird Blurb is about the Chuck-Will’s-Widow!

This bird is a small-ish bird, around 6 inches long, but can open their mouths 2-3 inches wide! The reason they do this is because they hunt at night for insects, so their mouth acts as a net to catch the bugs. However, this means that if they are ever brought to a rehabilitation center, they have to be hand fed, as they don’t know how to feed themselves. They nest on the ground, laying 1-4 eggs that hatch in about 20 days. The chicks are covered in long, light-brown down and are able to walk once they hatch. These guys can be found in all of the southeast US, and are nonbreeding in central America and northern South America. They are classified as near threatened by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) due to a rapid decline in their population, as they’ve had a ~24% decline in populations over the last 3 generations (12 years). Apart from that sad note, these birds are really cool, and I’ve gotten to work with a few of them during my time at the Alabama Wildlife Center at Oak Mountain. They are quite feisty and very fast, so you have to make sure that you’re careful when taking care of them.

Thank you so much for reading this Bird Blurb, and if there is a specific bird you would like me to cover, feel free to reach out!

Savannah P.

Sources:

“Chuck-Will’s-Widow Life History, All about Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.” All About Birds, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chuck-wills-widow/lifehistory. Accessed 11 Sept. 2026.

“Chuck-Will’s-Widow | Audubon Field Guide.” Www.Audubon.Org, https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/chuck-wills-widow. Accessed 11 Sept. 2026.

“Chuck-Will’s-Widow Antrostomus Carolinensis Species Factsheet | BirdLife DataZone.” BirdLife DataZone, 2024, https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/chuck-wills-widow-antrostomus-carolinensis. Accessed 11 Sept. 2026.