Ember's Dusk Flight

Ember was found on a city sidewalk, a common nighthawk with a injured wing from a window strike. Her camouflage was perfect—mottled gray and brown that vanished against gravel or bark. We housed her in a large flight cage. Her most remarkable behavior was the male's courtship 'boom' (she was female, but sometimes performed a version), a deep sound created by air rushing through wings during a dive. The flight cage is missing her silent, moth-like flight at dusk, her horizontal posture on a perch (not upright like most birds), and her large, dark eyes adapted for low light.