My first encounter with the Common Nighthawk was many years ago in New Orleans. Along the West bank of the Mississippi, there is a School building with a flat graveled roof where the birds were nesting. I first became aware of their presence one evening, well into darkness, when walking through the open schoolyard. It was a little frightening, this sound that I heard. It was seemingly very close above my head and I didn't know where it was coming from. It wasn't until a few days later that I found out about it. I saw the bird a little earlier, at dusk performing. He would spiral upward until quite high and then dive almost all the way to the ground making an abrupt pull-up. That is when the sound occurs. He repeated his aerobatics over and over as if he were doing it for fun. Whether he was doing it for fun or to impress his chosen mate, I don't know. Probably both.

Ed Lamb, Bellevue, WA edsplace at worldnet.att.net

----- Original Message -----
From: Lee & Lori Cain
To: tweeters
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 7:20 AM
Subject: Re: Mystery Bird Call


FWIW, Here's my guess:

"Common Nighthawks ...are most commonly seen feeding high in the air during the dusk and dawn hours. Like most other goatsuckers, nighthawks feed on flying insects, but unlike most other caprimulgids (e.g., poorwills) insects are captured or "hawked" during continuous flight. Nighthawks are well-known for the non-vocal "booming" calls which are thought to be produced by air rushing through the primary feathers of males. These sounds are presumably used for courtship display and territorial advertisement."

from http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/RIC/Pubs/teBioDiv/poorw/goatml20.htm

in my experience what is described as a "booming" IS more like a bullfrog.

Lee Cain
Summer: lcain at seasurf.net
School: lcain at astoria.k12.or.us
Instructor, Aquatic Biology/Integrated Science
Astoria High School
Astoria OR 97103 503-325-3911 vm 216

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