After reading jealously about all the common nighthawks spotted over
various parts of Seattle in the past couple months, I have the pleasure
of reporting that as the crowds rushing toward the fireworks thickened
last night and the shadow of the earth rose in the east, I heard a
lovely, unmistakeable "wonk" high over Wallingford, and a lone nighthawk
flapped its jerky way across the neighborhood. That was a sight far
more worth celebrating than all the spectacular fireworks that followed.

Katie Sauter Messick
Wallingford, Seattle