Common Nighthawks

[dmuirhead]

Early Sunday evening August 20th around 7 pm saw a flock of 30-40 Common Nighthawks from my balcony at Yonge and St. Clair, heading south. Have never seen that many all at once before - typically just see one or a pair - I assume it was a southerly migration, perhaps of birds from further north. Nice surprise.  

Also saw a local cardinal which from a distance appeared to have black head feathers instead of red. Upon closer inspection with the binoculars it actually was missing feathers and the skin was a greenish/black. Does anyone know what this is attributable to?

[Leslie Kinrys]

At this time of year, the end of breeding and still plenty of food, birds have started to moult. You will notice bald Cardinals, Grackles and Blue Jays. I am seeing that in my own yard.

[dmuirhead]

Thanks for the response. I checked the Cornell website which confirms it is most likely due to molting. Coincidentally, saw a blue jay in the same state yesterday.

[robgilroy]

I was biking home from work last Thursday (Aug. 24) when I observed about 12-15 nighthawks dipping and swooping south of High Park (Colborne Lodge and Queensway) at about 8:15 pm.

[B. Griffin]

Tonight around 7pm I spotted about 15-20 Common Nighthawks flying around over Grenadier Pond in High Park. No doubt getting an early start foraging thanks to the overcast conditions today. Check out Project Nighthawk to get involved with monitoring their migration, I think they are still collecting data for 2006. See: http://members.localnet.com/~risinger/index.html

[BC]

Having read about all of these Nighthawk sightings I sat on the balcony this evening between 7 and 8pm and, much to my surprise, observed a few dozen of them. They were north of Bloor and south of St. Clair above Yonge St. Good viewing spots would have been Ramsden Park and the Summerhill LCBO. For the most part, they mingled with a fairly large flock of Chimney Swifts.