Cobirders - I wouldn't get all stressed out about SW flights of nighthawks, nor the lateness of their appearance. We've had a colder-than-usual spring and weird weather patters to our south that really messed up migration this year. Various species seemed to come through Colorado in waves, i.e., Western Tanagers. One report from a bird bander working with the Bird Conservancy reported that some birds arrived with adequate fat in their bodies while others arrived with very little body fat. Various species, such as the tanagers, were lingering longer than usual, stoking up on suet and anything else available, as if they had been on short rations prior to their arrival.
I suspect that what appears to be a later than usual arrival of Common Nighthawks can be attributed to the lingering cold weather either delaying the hatching of flying insects or keeping them on the ground and in trees, thus depriving nighthawks of their prey. No prey, no appearance. My two cents worth. Bill Miller Fort Collins On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 5:33 PM 'ronbco' via Colorado Birds < [email protected]> wrote: > Speaking of nighthawks.... > I was birding near Crow Valley with my son last week. A few nighthawks > we’re flying, we saw 2 still snoozing in trees and on a post, even just an > hour before sunset. We were hunting for a visual of some singing bird and > once we found it, a mockingbird, we were watching it go through it’s reper > when a nighthawk flew over and called. The mockingbird immediately imitated > it for a couple seconds and then moved on to its next song! To immediately > switch from one song to a nighthawk call! It was one of those unbelievable > moments when I marveled at the design by the Creator. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/15dc9b47-e738-4a00-b9ae-d9011ec13d71%40googlegroups.com > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpcP06hGpYiPvFCca8pbNPb53v8ayNgvNfcKUK2We%2BFu0pmsQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
