Have you ever experienced nature in its pure form? It will be best if you travel into the darkness to experience it. Senses perform intensely as your vision fades. The rod cells in your eyes work extra to pick up shadows and shapes.

Many species become active once dusk comes down. Here are few popular birds for you and their interesting facts to know about:

Birds of the Night

• Among the nocturnal bird species, owls are the most recognizable. There are two types of owls: True Owls (e.g., Snowy owl, barred owl, elf owl, etc.) & Barn-Owls (e.g., red owl, Congo Bay owl, etc.) The Elf owl is one of the smallest species and weighs less than an ounce and a half – a bit less than a golf ball. At dusk, they hunt beetles, crickets, spiders, mice, etc.

• Summer Tanager (the only entirely red bird in North America) migrates in flocks of not more than 30 birds. These species are highly migratory, especially at night and sometimes by the day. They primarily eat bees and wasps. Cowbirds sometimes take advantage of them by sneaking into their nests, dumping out one of their eggs, and replacing it with a cowbird egg. The Summer Tanagers then raise these cowbirds as their own.

• Cuckoos are more often heard than seen. So, keep your eyes peeled for a long, even if you think it is just a funny-looking branch, it might be worth a second look. Like the Black Billed Cuckoo, cuckoos spend most of their time searching for caterpillars and fall webworms. They are pretty vocal during the night in midsummer, a perfect time to go scouting with your ears so that you can return to their locations the next day. Black Billed Cuckoo migrates at night and is sometimes heard calling in flight overhead at night during spring.

Migratory Birds

• The Carolina Chickadee is a small songbird whose breeding is mixed. These birds hop along tree branches, searching for insects, sometimes hanging upside down or hovering. Carolina Chickadee also uses nocturnal hypothermia to survive in the long subarctic night.

• Of the 60 species of eagles globally, the Bald Eagle is the only native to North America. The Bald Eagle size is noticeable, that may weigh 14 pounds and have an 8 feet wingspan, can fly up to 10,000 feet in elevation, and their diving speed up to 100 mph. The average nest weighs up to 2000 lbs. for the vast bald eagle size. They can soar for hours at a time.

• Like all seabirds, the Atlantic Puffin spends most of the year far from land in the open ocean, and they visit coastal areas to breed. It usually breeds in large colonies. They are small seabirds, measuring around 25 cm in length. Atlantic Puffins are nicknamed “Sea Parrots.”

• If you are a California native, you may have seen wild parrots flying around, such as Red -Crowned parrots. Typically, you hear them before you see them. The Red-Crowned crowned parrots is an endangered parrot native to northeastern Mexico and possibly southern Texas in the US.

Conclusion
So, now, if you are an adventure freak, experience the dark wings that occupy the night sky once the daylight fades!