Nighthawks on the Move over Philadelphia
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Aug 24, 2009 | by Adrian Binns
Fall migration is underway and one species that might get overlooked is the Common Nighthawk. These nocturnal birds breed across most of the United States and the southern half of Canada, though in our area they are not that common. However, Sheryl Johnson, who runs the Nighthawk Watch at Haverford College, Haverford, Delaware County, has just contacted us to say that migration is underway and that the last couple of nights have been excellent, with counts of 718 and 177 respectively. I saw that Andy Fayer reported an amazing 1700 from the Militia Hill Hawk Watch site in Fort Washington, Montgomery County sunday evening.
Peak flight time, as they pass through the Delaware Valley, is usually between the last week of August and the first week of September. Sheryl will be counting nighthawks daily, weather permitting, between 6:30pm and 8:00pm, through Labor Day Sept 7th, and everyone is welcome to join her at the Haverford College Observatory Bleachers.
Being active at night, and very cryptic in coloration as they rest during daylight hours (above), the best time of observe Common Nighthawks is in the early evening hours during fall migration. They overwinter in South America and will not be back until late April. Nighthawks get their name from their habit of hunting insects at nightfall.
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Tuesday August 25 – Groups were small in number and far between until a large gathering of 60 birds came overhead at about 7:15 PM. This was a very active, chatty group with many individuals calling. They came from the North and headed south, but circled around, spread out to feed and eventually most, if not all, drifted back to the north. There were also a couple of vocalizing birds in a smaller group later in the evening. We watched from 6:10 to 8:10 and tallied 122 nighthawks, mostly milling around and feeding and flying in what seemed to be pretty random directions.
Sheryl
On Wed Aug 26, Andy Fayer reported…..
We had another interesting night at the "semi-official" Militia Hill
Nighthawk Watch last night. After a slow start, we spotted a huge group of Common Nighthawks flying northeast over the ridge to our east. This would probably be the area from Chesnut Hill through Wyndmoor and perhaps Glenside. I have estimated the distance to be 2.5 to 3 miles from the hawkwatch deck.
After trying to get a count for about 5 minutes, we gave up and focused the scope in one spot over La Salle High School (located on Cheltenham Ave). A steady stream of perhaps 120 birds per minute passed the point for more than 15 minutes. At that point, the birds were feeding all along both sides of the ridge – making it even harded to try to estimate the number of birds. Many were too far away and out of view. They continued to feed until it was too dark to use the scope.
I cannot even guess how many birds were present, but it
was easily the largest group I have seen. Some of the birds did move farther west into the Wissahickon Valley where we were able to watch them at a much easier range.