Clare,

What an apt description of the shape of a resting nighthawk - they do
look like a boat! Someone should paint (or maybe has painted) a boat
to look like a nighthawk.

Also, your photos (of the nighthawks) are beautiful.

I, too, have in me a special place for nighthawks. Years ago, I had a
summer nightly experience with a group of them, when I would hike, at
dusk to the top of a basalt cliff outside of Tule Lake in north
central CA. I would lie down in the grass, looking up, and await the
swarm of them that would swoop criss-crossingly above and over me,
emitting both nasal "peeants" and occasionally a surprising "r-r-r-
onk" sound, that one of my bird books describes as sounding like a
rubber band or a banjo string being plucked. It must have been mating
time (late June/early July) as the latter sounds are made and heard at
the end of male courtship power dives, reminiscent of the male
hummingbird display dive-chirps, but considerably more resonating and
powerful - I could actually sense the sound vibrations as I lay there
and was always taken by surprise when another "boom" sound came from
seemingly quite near me. Hmmm... perhaps this is adds to the
definition of "boomer" - born in the age of the baby boom, the sonic
boom, the atomic 'boom', and the much more important, nighthawk and
other impactful natural booms, that seemed to be much more prevalent
and/or experienced back in those decades...

Those were special cliff-top visits and the nighthawk 'chorus' and
interplay was the added bonus to the already special sightings I
actually was there for - the dusk emergence of dozens (2-3) of Barn
Owls from their roost- and nest-holes in that cliff wall. They would
fly up and over the top of the cliff, where I was lying and would
often swoop down near and past me, to get a look at this strange being
who had invaded their hunting ground. Even though I thought I was
being motionless, I was likely heard by the owls as an extreme noise
as I caught my breath and rustled around adjusting my position to get
comfortable in the scratchy grass and pointy rocks. I don't think I
was ever in danger to be mistaken for a prey rat or even an old bat (I
was in my twenties then)! And no call-out sounds were needed to bring
the birds closer - they just were there.

Thanks, Clare, and Dan for reminding us of what can still await us out
in nature, if we are mindful and take the time. I think my next visit
to Central Wash. will include Yakima Canyon again - some friends and I
watched a group of nighthawks feasting on a hatch at about 4 p.m. on a
June day last year near one of the campgrounds along Canyon Road. It
was wild! Friend Dory, in another visit to the east side, also caught
an image of a resting nighthawk on a branch - capturing flight shots
of them is a more difficult challenge, it seems.

Good naturing!


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net