More Common Nighthawks

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Sorry that this is a day late,

On Wednesday evening on my commute home (about 25 minutes and 25 miles) from
Gainesville, to Jeffersonton, VA, I counted 95 common nighthawks.  Most of the
birds were flying north just south of Warrenton, VA.  I am sure I
undercounted, because I had birds on both side of my car.  Although I was not
driving, it was still difficult to keep track.  The peak of this count was at
19:00.  

After I got home that night, at about 20:30, I had an eastern screech-owl
calling from my yard.  While trying to get closer to the owl, I began to hear
a whip-poor-will singing.  Both these birds were very difficult to hear, my
property is all trees, and there is a very vocal katydid on every leaf.
However I was able to get fairly close to the whip, and it was singing in an
abbreviated manner.  A few calls, followed by a minute or so of silence.  It
did this for about 5 minutes, and was not heard again. I will mention that I
had regular whip-poor-wills (as many as five at a time) calling in spring, and
one seemed to stick around, heard periodically through the summer.  

Cheers,

Todd M. Day
Jeffersonton, VA

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