Do owls eat Poorwills?

[blindpig]

I was sitting out on the carport the other evening listening to the Chuck-poor-will as it made it's passes near my house. It, or others have been serenading me nightly along with its Whip-poor-will cousins since warm weather broke. It seemed to be at treetop level near the house when I heard a "whfft" of feathers and an animal sound hard to describe but sort of guttural and sibilant(Oscar the mixed animal?).
The Chuck calls abruptly stopped.

I have not had a Chuck fly-over since.

I think a Barred Owl got the Chuck.

Ever heard of such a thing?

[ArchTeryx]

1. Yep!

Owls are best known for eating small creatures they can swallow whole, but if larger prey presents itself, they'll quite happily kill it.

It may be that the owl killed something else, though, and drove the Chuck-will's-widows away. If they aren't 'on territory' and there's a predator roaming about, transient birds don't hang around long in enemy territory!

Incidentally, Chuck-will's-widows have been known to do the very same thing to swallows! They're much bigger then Nighthawks or Whip-Poor-Wills and it doesn't matter to them if something is covered in feathers or chitin -- down it goes. Do that a few times, and a transient swallow flock will abandon the neighborhood.

-- ArchTeryx

[blindpig]

2. Thanks

Heard a "Chuck" calling for the first time in a week yesterday evening, though at a good distance. Like you said one doesn't often consider owls taking large prey, except of course Great Horned Owls. Barred Owls are by far the most common owl in my neighborhood, recent reports of them preying upon spotted owls fits. I've seen a large one take a good sized cottonmouth on one occasion and once observed one "dancing" about the ground during a deluge rain early one spring, I suspect it might have been after emerging Upland Chorus Frogs, which I've often seen in that spot in the spring and fall.