While i am no expert on the vagrancy of Lesser Nighthawks, looking at eBird
distribution maps;
Lesser Nighthawks have made it to Chico (which is just about the north end
of their range) and have filled in to the south;
and there are only two reports in California for Common Nighthawk, which
could be suspect.
For what it is worth.
greg
On Tue, May 15, 2018 at 8:07 AM, Jeff Harding <jeffharding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Oregon Reviewers
While I was in Ireland familiarizing myself with Black-tailed Godwits and
Song Thrushes, an early report of a Common Nighthawk came through from
Jenna Curtis. I replied to her, asking if she had considered Lesser
Nighthawk, and she had not. I don’t think the description rules out Lesser
Nighthawk, but the bird she saw was surely a nighthawk.
I didn’t validate it because I remembered a comment from Dave Irons to the
effect that a nighthawk this early might be more likely to be a Lesser
Nighthawk than Common, since Lesser shows up in California in April. But in
this case, the habitat so favors Common Nighthawk, I wonder if it should be
validated as Common, or should I suggest she change it to something like
Common/Lesser Nighthawk?
Here’s the checklist:
Species: Common Nighthawk
Count: 1
Observation date: May 4, 2018
Location: Willamette National Forest, Idanha US-OR (44.6811,-121.9383),
Linn, US-OR
Submission ID: S45274112
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S45274112
Thanks for input,
Jeff
