On 26 September 1973 I flushed a bird from an ornamental shrub in the courtyard of the apartment complex where I live in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, California. Originally thinking it to be a Poor-will (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii), a regular migrant in coastal southern California, I flushed the bird several times in attempts to get a better look at it. The correct identity of the bird as a Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus) was only apparent when it crashed into a window after flying through the open door of an apartment. It was preserved as a specimen.