Common Nighthawk
Common Nighthawk
On Sunday night, while eating dinner on the deck (grilled salmon, heirloom tomatoes, and a crisp, white wine) we looked up and both shouted,
"Nighthawks!!!!"
Three Common Nighthawks cruised by right over the river in our view. We sat and counted until 8 pm and saw 18 nighthawks. More will be migrating in the coming weeks and we usually see from several hundred to 1000 in a season.
Each year at this time we get excited by the prospect of nighthawk migration, and look for and record our sightings. We are lucky to live on a river corridor (actually a dammed up portion of the river which creates a large pond) because river corridors are good migration routes for nighthawks who eat the flying insects often found over water. Keep looking for nighthawks at dusk and if you live in MA or NH you can send your observations into this website here.
4 comments:
Seems like just a few weeks ago we were rejoicing over the first phoebes. I love seeing the nighthawk migration, but am so not ready for it! More summer please!!
Why didn't you tell me you were having dinner on the deck? I could have joined you. Ha Ha. Thanks for sharing your great hawk photos.
Lynda from facebook & Michigan.
I am currently visiting in Galveston, TX and two evenings, I saw several nighthawks over our street. So they are making their way down towards Mexico.
But many years ago, I saw a flock of about 100 nighthawks while walking in a glass bridge between buildings in Shreveport, La. I also saw several hundred scissor-tailed flycatchers grouping up to leave - this was also in early October.
We live in Wisconsin and were stunned one evening last week to see three nighthawks in the sky. We've never seen more than one at a time before! A real thrill.
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