[texbirds] Unusual nighthawk in Houston
- From: John OBrien <j26.obrien@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2013 11:01:02 -0500
Hi everyone,
I have one of those unusual birds to report that is hard to pin down.
Saturday evening after eating at Marco's Mexican Restaurant, we heard a
nighthawk consistently giving a two-note nasal "pee-dip" call. It was
flying around with at least three normal calling Common Nighthawks. As far
as I could tell, this bird never made a normal Common Nighthawk call. I
didn't see it as it was already almost dark (arond 8:00 pm) and we had to
hurry home to put our child to bed. I have been back a couple of times at
non-optimal times of day (10:30 pm and 6:00 am) with recording equipment,
but have not heard it again.
This call is pretty consistent with one of the calls of an Antillean
Nighthawk. You can hear a few dead ringer examples of this call in a
recording on Xeno Canto of Antillean Nighthawk:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Chordeiles-gundlachii
The recording that has the call is one by Andrew Spencer from Big Pine Key,
Fla. Keep in mind, of course, that this recording comes from a location
where Antillean and Common breed sympatrically, raising the specter of
hybrids.
Now don't everybody yell at me all at once, but I believe that this
nighthawk has been here all summer. In late June my brother and sister in
law stopped by for a night while in transit to some interesting
destination. We had dinner at Dimassi's Mediterranean Restaurant, located
in the same strip mall complex. I was the last one out of the restaurant
and when I got outside, Michael and Louise were out in the parking lot
excitedly saying, "Hey, that's an Antillean Nighthawk!" That nighthawk was
making a double note and was getting higher and higher in the air and calls
were getting lost among Common Nighthawk calls. By the end of a couple of
minutes, we were shrugging it off as a weird call made by an excited bird.
The bird we heard (both times) never gave the more complex Killy-ki-dik
calls of Antillean. However, the reading I have done suggests that this
call is the display call made by males; I have not yet read anything that
suggests what call a female would make. I have not yet seen this bird well
enough to know if it is male or female. I will keep trying to get back
there to try to record it, though the optimal times near dusk seem to
conflict with many personal commitments.
The location is in a large strip mall complex on Kirby Drive, about half a
mile north of the south I-610 loop, and just northwest of Reliant Stadium.
The easiest landmarks are a PetsMart, close to the Dimassi's restaurant,
and a Fiesta Mart sign up at the Marco's end of the parking area. This is
also directly across the street from a Holiday Inn.
Texas birders might recall a similar type of nighthawk situation in the mid
1990's near Austin. I did not live in Texas at the time but was visiting
and stopped by to see that bird. I don't remember what calls it made, but
do remember that it was pretty cooperative, sitting on the parking lot
giving good looks. I believe at the time we thought that the position of
white in the wing and buff spots on the primaries indicated that it was a
Lesser (or hybrid thereof). Perhaps others have more information on that
bird.
I don't really know what to say about the Dimassi's nighthawk. It is
definitely interesting and probably worthwhile for locals to check out. As
I said, I will be trying to get some documentation of it in the near
future. Field guides say Antilleans leave Florida in August to September,
so the time may be short.
John O'Brien
Houston
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