Where are some good spots to see nighthawks(besides Bill’s yard;)?
Cheers!
Ann Alexander
On Aug 28, 2021, at 5:42 AM, WILLIAM DUNSON <wdunson@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There was a modest movement of night hawks on Friday night from 6:30-8 pm as
viewed from our yard overlook on Chesnut Knob
I recorded 90 nighthawks flying past
BUT the direction of flight was peculiar- 60 of the 90 were flying north and
the rest to the south as they should.
The northward flying birds were primarily seen earlier with none recorded
after 7:04 pm.
What is going on with nighthawk flight directions?! This is a much larger
percentage of "wrong way" birds than usual.
Deb pointed out that the approach of hurricane Ida to the Gulf coast might be
involved. I always thought that maybe the northward flights were involved
with late afternoon feeding prior to a dedicated movement to the south as
part of migration.
I am not aware of any scientific information on this topic since migration of
this species has not been studied nor even recorded on a large scale.
Bill Dunson
