In a message dated 6/3/2005 12:52:46 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
MJohnson at becu.org writes:

Are there nighthawks around the Puget Sound area?
I observed a flock of 30+ above our home in south Bellingham a couple of
years ago. Through binoculars, you could actually see the thick swarm of insects
that provided the evening feast. The light was still good enough for me to get
a few flight shots, showing the distinctive underwing pattern. I've
photographed nighthawks during the day when they were sitting still, but those were my
first photos of them on the wing.

It was the highlight of a quiet, late-July evening. The aerobatics were
superb and they were calling back and forth, perhaps in celebration of the
smorgasbord they had found. They might have gone by unnoticed, had it not been for
their calls. They were right above the house for 10-15 minutes!

To echo an earlier post, I, too, have seen them catching insects at
late-night filling station stops in Texas and Louisiana, along with Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers. Even more amazing were the people who hardly noticed the birds. I'm
sure they wondered about that bearded guy, just standing there staring at the
lights.

Joe Meche
Bellingham