Dear Tweeters,
It's great to hear of Brendan McGarry's nighthawk sighting in Seattle within
the last year, in my experience a totally rare event now. At the risk of
beating on a dead horse, I mean a dead goatsucker (not to mention sounding
like a curmudgeon), I have to bring up the fact that back in the late
seventies this bird was a regular breeder in Seattle, it's "song" a part of
the sound track of late summer evenings here. I am again calling attention to
this loss in an advertisement in the Seattle Weekly in the Summer Guide, which
will be out around Memorial day. By the way, I also will bring up what I
think will be the next candidate for local extinction, the Purple Finch. I
know very little or next to nothing about this bird, except my own anecdotal
reports of not seeing it as much anymore and the Seattle Christmas bird count
reports which Hal Opperman kindly sent me, which are very alarming, and
reports from the Portland Audubon Society which are ditto. (I don't know if
our wintering birds are our breeding birds or not or a mixture). Thanks in
advance for comments.

-Ed Newbold, Seattle (newboldwildlife at netscape.net)


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