Hi All,

This is more on a subject I have harangued about before--I hope it's not overly tiresome.

Regarding the recent characterization of the Nighthawk as a clearcut-breeder in Western Washington: While it?s not wrong or inaccurate?I?m not criticizing!-- I worry that such a characterization could inadvertently damage this bird?s reputation among folks new to birding in Washington, just as the official common name of this bird damages it?s reputation with every passing day.


There are wonderful birds like the California & Mountain Quail & Anna?s Hummingbird that are only here because of the efforts of humans in one way or another to alter the landscape or the avifauna. The Common Nighthawk is definitely not in that category.

Before the arrival of settlers from eastern US, the Nighthawk mainly nested on logjams in rivers, which were huge and ubiquitous. It no doubt also used gravel bars on rivers, and presumably prairies maintained by Native Americans. When the logjams were removed (It took over 10 years to remove the Skagit?s logjam) and the rivers diked, this bird had to find an all-new nesting strategy. It needs a clear path up to the sky and a low density of predators, because it has very little defensive ability.

Roof-top nesting was very successful for Nighthawks until the latter half of the 1900s. I came to Seattle at the tail end of the Nighthawk era, still I remember being so enamored in the late 70s of the fact that each Seattle neighborhood had its breeding Nighthawk pair, even the downtown.

Clearcuts are the other new thing under the sun that Nighthawks have taken to incorporating into their nesting strategy, and of course more power to them.

The decline of Nighthawks on the lowland Northwestern part of the continent has been massive. Here?s what Marshall et al in Birds of Oregon write: "Anecdotal reports indicate a drastic reduction in numbers in the Willamette Valley during the latter half of the 20th century. Reported as common to abundant from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s (cites 6 observers). Currently uncommon to rare and local in the Willamette Valley. "

By contrast, in their otherwise wonderful book Birds of Washington Wahl et al have somewhat understated the issue in my opinion: "...there is concern that lowland populations have declined (in the Puget Trough)."

Both books downplay the declines on the east side of their respective states, where Nighthawks are viewed as quite a bit more stable and not in trouble. I claim no scientific stature for my own views, but I doubt it.

I am thrilled to hear of all the sightings in the Puget trough lately of both Nighthawk species which are a positive development no matter how you slice them?it means the birds are alive.

However it could relate to some horrible breeding conditions in the hinterlands. I?m here on the line between the Sonoran & Chihuahuan desert in a canyon (visiting my in-laws who are putting a conservation easement on their land) where I expect to see small flocks of Lesser Nighthawks in the evenings but so far we?ve seen only one bird per night max. With the total rainfall so far this year at 1", the worst on record here, a lot of birds aren?t breeding this year, and Lesser Nighthawks could definitely be in that category. (But there are cumulous clouds over the Chircahuas as I write & great hope this place will green up into a paradise any minute?like Flagstaff just started to.)

A special thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to report their Nighthawk sightings to Tweeters this year.

Go Nighthawks!

Ed Newbold ednewbold1 at yahoo.com from the AZ-NM border where the Lucifer?s Hummingbirds are most uncooperative photo-subjects, the Blacktail Rattlers are most courteous, and the Spotted Skunk young are cuter than I could have imagined. Cheers

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