FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: Common Nighthawk Spectacular 9-03-02

[Frederick Atwood <fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

2 September Flint Hill School, Oakton, VA
191 Nighthawks flew over FHS from 7:15-8:00 PM.
146 of these were in one flock at about 7:25 PM.
Only about 15 chimney swifts were mixed in with
the nighthawks.  All the nighthawks were flying
SW with fairly direct flight rather than the
erratic flight typical of when they are foraging.
The flock was a fairly broad band at least 100
yards wide.  Some of the counted nighthawks were
seen to the west of the school over OakMarr Park
woods and it seemed like they were part of a
flock partially obscured by the tree-line, so
this count is undoubtedly lower than the actual
number.

My bio classes this weekend will spend one
evening looking at the skies above their homes
counting bats, nighthawks and swifts.  
All the best
Fred Atwood
--- Paul Woodward <grackling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> 
> 3 September 2002
>       Now that normal September weather
> nighthawks can continue their normal
> migration.  This evening I counted 457 birds
> from 1730 to 1945.  This is my
> 2nd highest total in 4 years of observation at
> Van Dyke Park, Fairfax City,
> Va.  Birds were almost entirely in three large
> groups.  Almost 300 showed up
> about and filled the sky within easy viewing
> distance about 1915.  This is
> truly one of the great sights of fall
> migration.  I also had about 100
> Chimney Swifts mixed in with the nighthawks and
> though is may seem strange,
> at a distance is not always easy to tell them
> apart immediately.
> 
> Paul Woodward
> Fairfax City, VA 22032
> grackling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
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=====
Frederick D. Atwood     fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675     
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org

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