I would not say its common, but it's not all that unusual to observe nighthawks over clearcuts here in north Snohomish county, when out checking Bluebird boxes at the right time of day. Twice we've even unwittingly bumped them off the ground, and one time found "nest" with egg. Makes me nervous to then walk in these areas, as they are so darn cryptic they are virtually invisible until they move.

Stan Kostka
lynnandstan at earthlink.net
Arlington

Subject: Nighthawks
From: Tim Brennan <tsbrennan AT hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 23:14:31 +0000
Hey all,

Saw a couple of posts about Common Nighthawks and thought I'd hop in. I was
hoping to find some in King County about a month ago, and learned that they are
out there to be found. There have been reports of them up in the foothills east
of Carnation, but that's a bit of a drive for me here on the south end. Matt
Bartells suggested the Enumclaw area, with the idea that they like a little
elevation, and they like clearcuts. Heading out on HWY 410 in the first 5-10
miles past Enumclaw around dusk, I stopped three times at what seemed like good
habitat - some really sizable clearcuts - and was able to hear them "peenting"
at one stop, then I saw two flying at another stop.