Subject: [Tweeters] More Nighthawks around the Sound
Date: Jun 29 15:35:00 2005
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at telus.net
Tweeters,
On June 24 and 25, I did some birding in Kitsap, Jefferson, and Mason
Counties. Of interest were some sightings of COMMON NIGHTHAWK.
On June 24, I saw 3 birds foraging over Crocker Lake, south of Discovery Bay
in Jefferson County. The following evening, on June 25, I saw and heard 3
Nighthawks at 2 different localities in extreme southwestern Kitsap County
(just NE of Belfair.) All sightings were in or near recent forest clearcuts.
It looks like there are more Nighthawks remaining in the Puget Sound area
than I thought. They seem to have disappeared completely as a breeding
bird over the last 30 years around Vancouver, and they seem to be
equally scarce in and near other large cities west of the Cascades
such as Seattle, Tacoma and Portland. However, it looks like there
are small numbers breeding, or attempting to breed, in clearcuts
in rural areas around Puget Sound, and in the Cascade and Olympic
foothills.
It might be worth trying to organize some kind of a survey next year,
or in the near future, to determine the abundance and habitat occurrence
of Nighthawks in the Puget Sound area. I'm not offering to start a project,
just suggesting something that someone might be interested in organizing
(or a graduate student might be interested in doing). Certainly, the status
of
this species has changed drastically since 1970, when it was a fairly common
bird almost throughout the Georgia Strait and Puget Sound region, and
south through the Willamette Valley.
Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net