Tweets,

Yesterday (22 June), on an evening hike up Rattlesnake Ridge above home in
the Lower Yakima Valley, I watched three Common Nighthawks flying around
the ridges at breakneck speed for 15 minutes. One bird seemed to the the
chaser, the others the chasees, but I wasn't sure. Their manner of flight
was very different from the typical fluttery, "changing gears" style they
usually have. Was a male chasing a rival? The aerial habitat seems so very
big, why would a bird utilizing this habitat need to be territorial? Could
young be fledged and this merely a begging routine? Ummm. seems too early
to be a fledged nighthawk. Any thoughts from those who know nighthawk
behavior?

As I followed the wild falcon-like gyrations of these birds with my binocs,
they coursed, dove and wheeled against the brilliant white tops of a
towering (the largest within my view) thunderhead high over a Lower Yakima
Valley rangeland fire. This particular cumulonimbus, present and growing
since early afternoon, may have formed in response to a 4,000 acre
sagebrush and cheatgrass fire west of Mabton WA. So, once again calling on
Jack Bowling, "Tweeters resident meteorologist": how much do fires
contribute to the growth of thunderstorms. Am I imagining cause and effect
here?

Science aside, the whole scene was utterly beautiful, with dark, shadowed
clouds, painted mauve by the sunset, here and there with patches of
orangish as is typical of a fire scene, all set off by stunning blues of an
eastern Washington sky. Wow...

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA