CoBirders,
Went out to Walden Ponds around 7pm this evening (Saturday May 29) with my
parents from out of town. We strolled around Cottonwood Marsh looking for the
Little Blue Herons, but they were NOT present when we were there. They may
have left prior to our arrival for roosting, but there is no way to tell.
After returning from the northwest corner where a leucistic Red-winged
Blackbird made an amazing showing (all white except for its epaulets which were
an orangey yellow), we walked the west side of Duck Pond (or the east side of
Sawhill #4) and heard an American Bittern which eventually flushed and was
harassed in mid-air by multiple Red-winged Blackbirds almost riding it. Also
saw a Green Heron on Sawhill #4.
As dark approached, I spotted two nighthawks which I initially called Common
Nighthawks. They butterflied in from the northwest and made multiple passes
over the NW corner of Duck Pond at very low altitude. We stood under them as
they flew around us at least 4 times. Upon the first pass my father, Al,
stated that they had really rounded wings for Common Nighthawks. On the second
pass we got more excited and noted the white wing patches being closer to the
wingtips and the tail wasn't nearly as notched (however, the bird we
consistently started to see was molting some of its tail feathers, not sure if
that aids in the ID at all though). Upon the third pass, we played a Lesser
Nighthawk call and optimistically hoped for a response, but got none. This
pass we noted the white tail bar which would make the one bird we were now
seeing a male. Let me mention that my father and my reaction to the tail
pattern was more of a dotted white line (a la Barn
Swallow) rather than a solid white stripe like one would expect from a Common
Nighthawk. Now very excited, unfortunately we lost the bird for a while before
it made its last appearance. This however did give us some time to review what
we had seen and check National Geographic's Handheld Birds which I luckily had
with me. When the last pass came, I noted that there was a buffy wash to the
underside of the chest, but couldn't note if there was speckling or not due to
the failing light, but I am sure there was a buffy tone to the chest as well as
the undertail. Never was able to see anything of the throat, nor did my dad.
After taking some time to absorb this, I thought about the shape of the bird
and discussed it with my father for review. I thought upon initial view when I
called them Common Nighthawks that they seemed small for Commons, but thought
my memory could be failing me from last year when I last saw Commons. Each
time the birds passed, I thought their heads seemed more squashed from front to
back than was normal for Common Nighthawk, it made them seem kind of like
Sharp-shinned Hawk instead of Cooper's Hawk if you will forgive the rather poor
analogy. Lastly, the birds body seemed shorter from front to back in flight
than a Common Nighthawk. This made it seem less broad and might have
accentuated the tail length, but neither my father nor I mentioned anything
about the tail that I can remember.
We saw these two nighthawks at around 8:15 and watched them until about 8:35 or
8:40. Most of our interaction with them was around the building where all the
trails converge. If anyone finds these birds again, I would love to hear about
it. This was an amazing way to end my day with a completely unexpected lifer.
If anyone has any questions about these birds, please let me know. There might
be other things I noted, but I don't know what else will help me identify
Lesser versus Common nighthawks, so I may have left some details out.
Other than these two nighthawks, the American Bittern fly-by, and the really
cool leucistic Red-winged Blackbird, the rest of the birds were pretty much
expected.
Bryan Guarente
Instructional Designer
The COMET Program
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, CO
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