Michael,

I too have noticed that CONI were common into the 1970s in Albany, Oregon
(my home town), nested on rooftops and were referred to by the locals as
"Bullbats".

Although a few nighthawks can be seen on a late spring evening in
downtown Albany occasionally, the air is not filled with their "blows".

The only thing missing in Albany (Willamette Valley) is that there are no
nesting gulls in the vicinity! I don't know what else to attribute the
reduction in the nesting population.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, WA
anderjda at dfw.wa.gov


On Mon, 5 Jun 1995, Michael Price wrote:

> Hi Tweeters
>
> An interesting sidebar to Eric Greenwood's post is that Common Nighthawks
> (CONI) used to be fairly common nesting birds in downtown Vancouver BC until
> they were extirpated as a breeding species in Vancouver city by factor(s)
> unknown in the 1970's. Flood? Disease? Sunbathers on rooftops? No-one knows.
> Mystery.
>
> While standing at a 10th floor window in an office building in downtown VCR
> BC a few years ago, I noted window washers attempting to fix some gear on a
> gravel rooftop below me were being harassed by a pair of Glaucous-winged
> Gulls (GWGU). I looked for the chicks and saw them cowering against the
> parapet on the side of the roof opposite to the workers.
>
> Click.
>
> In the late 1960's what passes for regional government here drastically
> enlarged the VCR Landfill in Burns Bog, to the S of the city. One effect was
> a massive increase in the GWGU population over the next decade. They began
> to nest on gravel rooftops all over the city, among many other locations.
> The CONI, being our latest migrant, would arrive back here about June 01 to
> find the gulls already in possession of 'their' rooftops. End of CONI as a
> locally breeding bird.
>
> Has anyone else noticed similar large drops or extirps in other communities?
>
> Michael Price
> Vancouver BC Canada
> michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca
>
>