We had an incredible number of Common Nighthawks go over our house this
evening. I don¹t know the number but it must have been in the thousands!
We were sitting on our deck when I noticed some birds very high in the air.
With my binocs I could see they were Common Nighthawks. As we watched,
kettle after kettle went over, mainly from west to east or northwest to
southeast. This went on from about 6:00 PM until 7:30 PM. At times, when I
looked to the north with binocs, there were birds from our house all the way
to the horizon . Sometimes they flew in a fairly straight line west to
east and at other times they circled and seemed to be catching insects.
While I was writing this email I got a call from Larry Dolphin, the
naturist at the Hormel Nature Center. He said this afternoon about 3:00 PM
there were hundreds of Common Nighthawks at the Nature Center. He thinks
they were eating dragonflies. It makes one wonder if they were moving
through all day or were they hanging around Austin? Anyway, it was a great
experience! I posted a picture on the MOU showcase page.
Dick Smaby
[email protected]
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