Nighthawk Migration

The migration of nighthawks in the Connecticut River Valley is quite a spectacle.  Over 3,000 were observed by Vermont's Don Clark in Westminster Station over the last two weeks, with the big push being last night when nearly 1,000 birds passed over the area.  I stopped by to chat with Don and watch large flocks of birds circle over the Connecticut River and the fields adjacent to it.  Nighthawks are not hawks at all, they are rather in the nightjar family along with whip-poor-wills.  These birds open their mouthes wide as they fly erratically through the air, catching insects in a manner not that different from how baleen whales trap phytoplankton.  The distinctive markings are white stripes on the underside of their pointed wings.  Males also have a patch of white on the throat.  If you get out in the next week around dusk, although you may not see numbers like last night, you may get a chance to see these acrobatic fliers traveling south through Western NH.