Ta-da! It’s finally here, I’ve got October’s bird family of the month up! Rejoice! I chose this group since it’s sort of Halloween related, well, for a bird X>. And no, they’re not owls or corvids.

.: Family of Month :.

Order Caprimulgiformes, Family Steatornithidae, one genus, one species.

Oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis) are the sole member of this family, though they are related to the nightjars, owlet-nightjars, frogmouths, and potoos, distant relations to owls have also been recorded.

Oilbirds are one of the only nocturnal frugivorous birds on the planet, locating food with a highly developed sense of smell, another rarity in the avian world. They are highly gregarious and live in caves much like bats where they use primitive echolocation to navigate and their skillful flying to twist and turn through the areas necessary.

Oilbirds get their name from their rotund offspring, which may weigh up to 50% heavier than their parents before they fledge from the nest at about 100 days of age. Chicks used to be sought for their oil to use in lamps and other commodities. In fact, their scientific name means “fat bird of Caripe”.

Overall they are a well studied bird, with most of the research taking place in caves in Trinidad. Though they’re not very popular compared to other birds such as owls, parrots, penguins, and the like.

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Also! There will be a new contest for drawing extinct birds, from the modern ones such as Carolina Parakeets, Passenger Pigeons, Labrador Ducks, Bachman’s Warblers, Great Auks, Dodos, Huia, New Zealand Flightless Wrens, Moas, Haast’s Eagles, etc, to the Phorusrhacus, Hesperornis, Icthyornis, and Gastornis of looong ago. If there are birds that have varying views about disappearances or classification ( ex. Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Archaeopteryx ), since this is opinionated, they are still allowed.

Submissions will be accepted until after Christmas and then a poll will take place to decide the winner. So whoever wants to participate will have plenty of time. Multiple submissions are allowed but only one will be chosen to be a valid submission for the final poll ( well, the only poll ) and that decision will be up to me, though if you‘re not happy with it PM me and I‘ll change it. Other than that, have fun drawing, and happy October!. :3 I’ll remind you all of this contest monthly until December 25th.