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July 3, 2006

Hi nighthawk fans;

Actually, I shouldn't have bragged about seeing Lesser Nighthawks flying around that light oasis on Ft. Huachuca decades ago. I had a poor attitude, when it came to bird identification. That is: I was mainly interested in males in spring plumage. I didn't even try to identify the others, a lot of the time! (i.e. other species in general). Sometimes I wonder how I ever accumulated the life list that I did.

Anyway, other(s) after me identified Poorwills at that same light oasis (hospital parking lot on Ft. Huachuca), as I recall. Now, since I saw a few males & females on occasion there, that , for my purposes was sufficient for listing purposes. But I also recall some of those feathered moths having no conspicuous markings at all. In retrospect, I think the latter were probably Poorwills. I'm sure glad I saw 2 Poorwills elsewhere, while I was stationed at Ft. Huachuca. (That was in the headlights of the pickup truck I was riding on a private ranch.)

Just for the record, Lesser Nighthawks tend to forage lower than Common Nighthawks. That was certainly the case there.

Well, so much for clarification.

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham, WA
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