Making Embedded Systems

Colophon

The animal on the cover of Making Embedded Systems is a great-eared goatsucker.

Great-eared goatsuckers are members of the family Caprimulgidae, informally referred to as “nightjars.” The term “goatsucker” stems from an inaccurate belief that the birds drink milk from goats; it is not to be confused with “chupacabra,” the fabled cryptid believed by some to inhabit the Americas and drink the blood of goats. The name “great-eared nightjar” is more commonly used today.

Great-eared nightjars inhabit subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests in areas of Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and China. They are crepuscular, meaning mostly active at dusk and at night, during which time they satisfy their diets of flying insects and moths and sound their distinctive calls: a sharp “tissk,” followed by a two-syllable “ba-haw.”

Great-eared nightjars are characterized by pronounced ear tufts, which, in addition to their average length of 16 inches, make them more conspicuous among nightjars. Their soft gray and brown plumage resembles their preferred habitat, leaf litter and bracken. They lay their eggs either directly on bare ground or in leaf-litter nests on the ground. Nightjar nestlings have been observed to be completely silent and motionless, which, in addition to their leaf-colored plumage, may help protect them from danger while nesting.

The cover image is from Wood’s Animate Creation ...