I arrived at the Tysons tower buildings about 8:15 tonight; the lights were
on, and the sky was full of nighthawks. I stayed until about 8:50. Most of
the birds were flying very low and actively hawking insects. There were at
least 30, and could easily have been 40 or more birds .I've given up trying
to get an accurate count. Pleased as I was to see the birds, I was not
surprised. There have been reports of large numbers migrating to the north
of us. I thought that the south wind tonight would slow the migration and
increase the feeding activity. That seems to have been what happened. This
behavior has been observed elsewhere as well. Here is a quote from the New
Hampshire bird line regarding nighthawks. : "A high count of 420
nighthawks was made on August 30th. Interestingly, nighthawks were never
observed during north winds. Nighthawks were only seen on calm or south wind
evenings when lots of feeding and migration was observed." Based on my
observation tonight,and the quoted observation from N.H., I have hope that
the approaching tropical storm will nearly stop the migration tomorrow
evening and there will be lots of nighthawks at Tysons tomorrow evening.
Let's hope so.
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Va.
