FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] MASSIVE flight of Common Nighhawk

[Brenda Tekin <bt8x@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rockfish Gap Hawkwatch, Waynesboro, Augusta County, VA
Wednesday, September 4, 2002

Reported by Brenda Tekin, Co-coordinator



Massive flight of Common Nighthawk and thousands of Chimney Swift with 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow thrown in for good measure.


And to think I almost didn't go up to the hawk watch after work this 
afternoon.  Due to a full work schedule and family commitments taking up my 
evening hours, I had not been able to monitor any movements of Common 
Nighthawk this season.  I had read earlier reports and discussions of 
nighthawk movements including the recent report by Ken Klotz from this area 
of the nighthawks heading NE.  Tonight, that inner voice said "GO."

I arrived around 6 p.m. EDST and met up with Gordy Adamski who had been on 
board for about an hour.  A steady breeze from the NW, less than 10% cloud 
cover and comfortable temps at 28c.  It was going to be a gorgeous night!

Chimney Swifts were steadily moving across the gap from S and SE heading NW 
into the valley out over Waynesboro.   By 6:15 Gordy decided to head home 
disappointed he wasn't going to see any nighthawks.

(Note:  Before posting this report I telephoned Gordy and left a 
message.  You know, one of those "I wanted you to hear it from me first 
instead of hearing it on the news..")

Had he looked out over the valley while he was in the parking lot, he would 
have seen an amazing sight.  The entire sky over the valley floor was 
almost a solid mass of birds consisting of thousands upon thousands of 
Chimney Swift and hundreds and hundreds of Common Nighthawk.  Folks, I'm 
talking about a heck of a lot of birds here.

Unfortunately I was unable to catch Gordy as he drove down off the mountain 
unaware of the spectacular flight over Waynesboro.

At 6:23 p.m. (EDST) the first wave of 38 nighthawks passed over.  A single, 
high sailing Osprey came out of the NE heading SW at 6:26 p.m.  By 6:45 a 
total of 307 nighthawk had passed.  Looking out over the valley floor they 
were still coming.  By 7:05 the count was up to 591 and they were still 
coming.  There would be a small wave of 20-30 or some upwards to 75-80, 
most heading SSE sailing overhead without slowing down avoiding mid-air 
collisions with the increasing numbers of Chimney Swift that continued to 
head towards Waynesboro to the NW.  Excuse me, coming through!    Also 
heading NW in among the Chimney Swift I observed several Northern 
Rough-winged Swallows.  By 7:10 the NW winds had increased and I quickly 
realized nighthawks seen over the valley weren't passing overhead.  I 
walked to the NE corner of the building and was met with strong gusts of 
wind out of the NW that was enough to feel resistance when walking.  The 
nighthawks were splitting up, with large numbers coming up the western 
slope on north side of gap and moving East, a steady stream flowing into 
the base of an incredible swirling column of several hundred nighthawk 
reaching high in the sky.  The swirling column drifted a little more to the 
east before they began to head out going SSE on the eastern side over the 
Piedmont.

Further to the west I caught a large wave of nighthawk flying low heading 
southward before they disappeared.  I'm sure I missed quite a few based on 
the 75 in just that one group.

Thankfully the wind gusts diminished and the nighthawks began heading in a 
more southerly route directly over the site.  By 7:36 the setting sun was 
casting shades of red and orange on the "Blue" ridges almost giving them a 
"halo".  Looking out over the valley I could see no swifts or 
nighthawks.  A couple visiting from Pennsylvania were staying over for the 
night and we had a pleasant chat with an occasional nighthawk passing 
over.  By now it was getting difficult to see anything in the sky except a 
for an occasional bat.  The visiting couple had been down in North Carolina 
and had driven up by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway today, stopping at 
Harvey's Knob Hawk Watch to our south.

The last nighthawks observed were two flying over the building together at 
7:46 p.m. (EDST).  The final total count was 1,036. I know I missed quite a 
few.   This is by far, the most incredible flight of Common Nighthawk I 
have ever experienced.  They do migrate along the Blue Ridge crossing 
Rockfish Gap and in good numbers.    Tonight was the "motherlode".

Shortly before 8 p.m. we began watching a large storm cell to the southeast 
slowly moving ESE quite possibly following the James River.  There were no 
other clouds in the sky and the impressive thunderheads were bright white 
against the sky except for a center cap that glowed red.  We were 
captivated by the lightening within the storm cell with occasional 
lightening bolts like a long arm with fingers reaching out horizontally 
from the cloud bank into the dark sky.

Below is a clip from email sent to me by Jean Brodwater who lives a few 
miles west of Stuarts Draft, Va that is SW of our site.  Jean is a regular 
volunteer for the hawk watch.

"Tonight, Charlie and I out on back deck. Humidity going down and breeze 
picking up. Very clear sky. 6:30 p.m. noticed first Night Hawk above us. I 
just came inside at 7:40 p.m. with a count of 152 Night Hawks, a house 
record. Nearest to that was (76) one night several years ago here. Since we 
were not counting NH previous to 6:30 pm but were out on the deck from 5:30 
on - not sure how many we may have missed. We were being entertained by our 
three hummers, and not looking up at the sky.
I have not looked for any Night Hawks previously this year. Either I missed 
a lot, or hit the "motherlode" tonight. Most came out of the NE, and flew 
out to both the E, SE and SW, diagonally across the sky space I was 
observing from the middle of the driveway off the deck. Biggest group at a 
time was 8 - "


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