Common Nighthawks Are Migrating!!

               

Common Nighthawk, male. Males have a white throat, white subterminal primary bar on wings and a white band on the tail. 

Common Nighthawk, female. Females have a buffy throat, smaller white primary bar and no tail band.

Common Nighthawk, male

Common Nighthawk, female

Common Nighthawk, male

Common Nighthawk, male

Common Nighthawk migration is in full swing here in New England. Last night in NH we saw 301 from our deck. We have gotten good flights before, our previous high count has been 2,202 in one night. We live on a dammed-up section of a river, where the river flows north and nighthawks often follow river valleys on migration. We count from our deck and are often joined by our friends.

Common Nighthawk numbers have been declining in the Northeast so it was very exciting so see so many of them that night.

This is peak Common Nighthawk migration time, so get out and look. The best time to see them is at the end of the day from about 5 pm to dark.

Here are some tips for seeing migrating Common Nighthawks:

1. Look during the later afternoon to early evening hours, from about 4 pm to 7:30 pm.
2. Look north, as they generally move from north to south.
3. Get comfortable, use a chair if you can, you will be looking for quite a while. Tuck your elbows in, it is less tiring and steadier to hold binos that way.
4. Nighthawks often move along river corridors
5. Note if there is an ant hatch. Nighthawks are attracted to, and eat, dispersing ants who rise up in clouds.
6. Study the photos above, to learn nighthawk shape. Often you will only see distant birds with long pointed wings, flapping rather slowly. When feeding, nighthawks fly erratically. When migrating, they move more directly and may even rise up on a thermal sometimes.

Birds Drink Out of Humingbird Feeder Ant Moat!!

 Do your yard birds do this? This American Goldfinch drinking out of the ant moat (little well of water the ants won’t cross) on the hummingbird feeder. Chickadees titmice, and House Sparrows also do this even though there are birdbaths nearby. Anyone else have birds doing this with your hummer feeders?

RARE HUMMINGBIRDS AT FEEDERS!

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD

CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD

RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD

This is a great time of year, from now into fall, to look for unusual hummingbirds at your feeders in addition to the usual Rub-throated Hummingbirds whose populations swell because of the young birds. There is an increasing trend for western hummingbird species such as Rufous and Allen's hummingbirds and other's showing up outside of their normal range in fall in eastern states. Here are some photos of them from when I lived in NH.

The Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorous rufous) was visiting a feeder in Hollis, NH in Oct. 2009. This was a very unusual hummingbird for there. One was last reported in NH in 2007. The Rufous Hummingbird is a western species whose breeding range goes as far up as Alaska. Increasingly, Rufous Hummingbirds are showing up in fall in the eastern half of the country. This hummingbird was banded over the weekend and the bander reported it as a hatching year Rufous Hummingbird, sex could not be determined. Identification of female and immature hummingbirds can be tricky, especially telling Rufous from Allen's Hummingbirds. Sometimes only banders, holding them in hand, can tell them apart by subtle differences in the shape of the tail feathers and even then sometimes it is not possible to definitively tell their sex. The above photos shows the extensive rufous on the sides and rufous on the tail feathers.

This little hummer is a Calliope Hummingbird, male, a bird from the Northwest who strayed far from his usual range and migration route in Nov. 2013. He came to a feeder in Manchester, NH at the home of some very gracious birders who allowed many birders to view this hummingbird, a lifer for many! This was not the first time a Calliope Hummingbird had shown up in New England and there are records from other eastern states also. Calliopes also have been reported from MA and NJ. More and more out-of-range hummingbirds are showing up in the East in fall at feeders. No one knows exactly why this occurs. Some birds' internal compasses may just direct them east instead of south. Over time that species may have a range expansion if those individuals survive and have offspring. Other people think that having more hummingbird feeders available and hardy plants in a human altered landscape may make it possible for some of these hummingbirds to be in the East in fall and winter. So keep watching your feeders!