For a variety of reasons I decided to limit my Common Nighthawk
watching this fall to daily checks of their nocturnal feeding area at Tysons
Corner, Fairfax Co., VA.
I started on August 2 and saw my first ones(2) on
August 5(my earliest fall record). The first increase was on August 9 when
I had 12, then down to 6 the next evening and none on August 11.
From August 12-19 there were 25-30 nighthawks feeding over the lighted
buildings. This was a little bit early in the season for this number and
was similar to spring when numbers stay the same for several days.
On August 20 a weak cold front passed through the area. That evening
the count was down slightly to 20, but on the next 2 evenings counts
increased significantly. I had 70 nighthawks on August 21 and 45 the next
evening. Their behavior has changed also with the birds spread out over a
larger area which requires more time to get an accurate count. They are
also flying extremely high, perhaps a 1/4 mile or so.
Paul Woodward
Fairfax City, VA
grackling@xxxxxxx
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