10 September
Had my best count of Common Nighthawks at Van Dyke Park in Fairfax City
for the season- 83 birds still well below my usual high daily counts for the
past five years, but still a good day. Started off well with one bird as
soon as I got out of the car. Soon 20 or so nighthawks showed up and they
spent the next hour feeding sometimes low over the field. This is unusual
behavior for my site because at best nighthawks will sometimes circle the
area briefly before flying off. Reminded of 1999 which was a drought year
when it finally rained, insects appeared and the nighthawks also fed over
the field. These birds eventually moved higher then disappeared.
About 30 minutes later milling nighthawks appeared to the west.
Unfortunately it was hard to determine accurately how many there were
sincethey weren't flying directionally and trees blocked a clear view. They
were there about 30 minutes and I figured there were about 60 birds. By the
end of the watch I had about a dozen brown bats flying around to the west.
Yesterday after the remnants from Frances disappeared I only had 3
nighthawks. I also checked my nocturnal feeding site at Tyson's Corner,
Fairfax County (Fairfax Square) both evenings and true to form I had 40-50
on 9-09 and none tonight. The general correlation is when I have few birds
at the watchsite I have good counts at my nocturnal feeding site and vice
versa.
Paul Woodward
Fairfax City, VA 22032
grackling@xxxxxxx
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