When I first spotted the Common Nighthawks they were far enough away - east of where I waited at Stop & Shop - that I had to get out the scope to verify the ID. They were spread out over a long stretch of the horizon, which made counting possible, but with the swirling they were doing trying to count them was a bit maddening. I believe that if anything the 150 I reported was low. Unlike the Sunday night when they were Going Somewhere, these birds were feeding. Unlike the other night none of them were close. The last one I saw was at 7:35.
When most of them disappeared between 7:10 and 7:15 I thought they would be moving down river to Bill Banks watching in Derby, but Bill was skunked.
One thing that struck me about tonight was how few Chimney Swifts were
around. I saw none at first, and then intermittently had a dozen or
twenty off in the distance where the Common Nighthawks had been feeding.
The gnats were terrible while I was watching for the nighthawks. There might have been 50 of them just on the roof of my car, to say nothing about the ones on me. Considering that last night was both warm and rainy I suspect there were a lot of bugs hatching in the last 24 hours.
Roy Harvey
Beacon Falls, CT
From: Roy Harvey rmharvey@snet.net
To: CT Birds ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 7:21 PM
Subject: [CT Birds] Seymour Nighthawks
About 7:10 I had at least 150 Common nighthawks circling over downtown Seymour. 5 minutes later they were pretty much gone. Bill Banks is waiting for them in Derby.
Roy Harvey
Beacon Falls, CT
When I first spotted the Common Nighthawks they were far enough away - east of where I waited at Stop & Shop - that I had to get out the scope to verify the ID. They were spread out over a long stretch of the horizon, which made counting possible, but with the swirling they were doing trying to count them was a bit maddening. I believe that if anything the 150 I reported was low. Unlike the Sunday night when they were Going Somewhere, these birds were feeding. Unlike the other night none of them were close. The last one I saw was at 7:35.
When most of them disappeared between 7:10 and 7:15 I thought they would be moving down river to Bill Banks watching in Derby, but Bill was skunked.
One thing that struck me about tonight was how few Chimney Swifts were
around. I saw none at first, and then intermittently had a dozen or
twenty off in the distance where the Common Nighthawks had been feeding.
The gnats were terrible while I was watching for the nighthawks. There might have been 50 of them just on the roof of my car, to say nothing about the ones on me. Considering that last night was both warm and rainy I suspect there were a lot of bugs hatching in the last 24 hours.
Roy Harvey
Beacon Falls, CT
________________________________
From: Roy Harvey <rmharvey@snet.net>
To: CT Birds <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 7:21 PM
Subject: [CT Birds] Seymour Nighthawks
About 7:10 I had at least 150 Common nighthawks circling over downtown Seymour. 5 minutes later they were pretty much gone. Bill Banks is waiting for them in Derby.
Roy Harvey
Beacon Falls, CT
