[TN-Bird] Nightjar Survey results, Big Sandy (Benton County)

From: Shawna Ellis <yodergoat@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Tn Bird List <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 00:52:19 -0500
May 23, 2013
8:50-10:51 pm
Benton County

We participated this evening in the nightjar survey which Scott
Somershoe had posted about previously. The web site was
http://www.nightjars.org/

It was fun and easy to take part in this.

We chose the Big Sandy route, as it was relatively close to our home.
The route began very near the entrance to the Big Sandy Unit of TN
National Wildlife Refuge and took us back along Lick Creek Rd going
toward the town of Big Sandy.

Although the night had started very clear with few clouds, we did have
some issues with cloud cover later, although the moon remained visible
most of the time. The wind got up a bit at times and this made it a
little harder to listen, but overall I think we had a good night.

We only had one stop on the 10-stop route which produced no nightjars
at all during the 6 minutes of allotted listening time. This location
also had some frog noise which might have impeded our efforts.

Most of the time we found very safe pull-offs, but there was little
traffic in this area at this time of night. No one stopped to question
us, which is sort of a shame because I had wanted to answer any
inquiries by saying that we were "looking for goatsuckers." (Of course
I would have been more forthcoming and explanatory than that!)

In total over the 10-stop route (with each stop 1 mile apart), we had
13 Chuck-will's-widows, 5 Whip-poor-wills and 1 Common Nighthawk (on
our last stop).

I would recommend this survey for others... it was fun and sort of had
an adventuresome feel to it. If you take part in such a survey, I
recommend that you bring along a stopwatch or use a cell phone that
has this feature. Our young daughter helped us on some of the stops by
keeping up with our time. Also bring something to help you see to
write on your data sheet in the dark... I used a cell phone to see by.
Mosquito spray was certainly needed at a few of our stops, and I'm
glad we had this with us.

After we completed our survey and were almost home, a nightjar flew up
from the road, giving us a nice clear view. I think it was a
Chuck-will's-widow. Although it was not countable for our route, it
was nice to SEE one of what we had been listening for so intently!


Thanks to Scott for posting about this.

Shawna Ellis and family
Paris, Henry County
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[TN-Bird] Nightjar Survey results, Big Sandy (Benton County)

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