6-3-2015
Benton County
9:33-11:08 pm
My husband and I participated in a nightjar survey sponsored by
http://www.nightjars.org , where we have adopted the Big Sandy route.
This was our second time to do the route in three years (we
accidentally missed the counting window last year), and this year we
had a nice increase of birds over 2013.
The sky conditions, wind and nice full moon made this a great night
for listening for nightjars. Our route begins very near the entrance
to the main Big Sandy portion of the TN National Wildlife Refuge along
Lick Creek Road outside of the township of Big Sandy. We heard a total
of 30 nightjars along the ten-stop route, including 17 Whip-poor-wills
and 13 Chuck-will's-widows. We found this interesting because in our
previous survey we had only 6 Whip-poor-wills, and they just tend to
be less in number in our general area in nearby Henry County. Our
Chuck-will's-widow numbers also improved by 4, but this year we had no
Common Nighthawks as compared to 1 in 2013. Here are our actual
results for 2015: http://www.nightjars.org/surveys/2503
For those who are unfamiliar with the survey, it is conducted by
adopting a survey route at http://www.nightjars.org, choosing a night
with good conditions during the counting window, and then stopping at
one mile intervals along the survey route, counting every bird heard
each minute for the six minute long counting period at each stop. I
find it to be very enjoyable, standing at each stop with head cocked
and ears straining for every sound... and then sudden elation as the
clear ringing calls of the birds break through the quiet noise of the
crickets and frogs.
The counting window for our area closes June 9, so this is probably
too late for others to join in for this year.
-Shawna Ellis
Paris, Henry County
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