Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Common Nighthawk Flyover

 I was sitting on the deck this evening....enjoying the hummingbirds and their territory war. You'd think that with three large hummingbird feeders there would be enough for all, but not according to the older male....he thinks they all belong to him. 
I heard a familiar call and looked up to see two Common Nighthawks cruising over. I snapped a series of shots and about 20 of them were sharp. Here's a stacked image of 7 of them....


I was recently recalling that when I grew up not far from our home, it was commonplace to see large flocks of Nighthawks each evening. I could clearly hear their calls and identify them by the white wing bands. 
While I do still see them, they are uncommon, and then only single birds or just a couple. The Nighthawk numbers have declined, and All About Birds cites that the decline of Common Nighthawk populations declined by over 1% per year between 1966 and 2019, for a cumulative decline of about 48%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey." A reduction in flying insect populations related to pesticide use is thought to be one of the causes. In addition, Nighthawks nest in gravel patches...including those that used to be common on flat rooftops. The move to avoid the gravel in leu of rubber roofs has led to decreased availability of nesting sites.

Friday, August 19, 2022

Avocets at Sunset

 We made a second trip to CJ Brown last evening to catch the American Avocets in the setting sunlight. Also caught some Common Mergansers and a Ring Billed Gull getting a sip of water....





Thursday, August 18, 2022

American Avocets at CJ Brown

Wow! We had some amazing visitors to the CJ Brown Beach today.....16 American Avocets!
 
From Wikipedia
         "American avocets were previously found across most of the United States until                         extirpated from the East Coast. The breeding habitat consists of marshes, beaches, prairie ponds, and shallow lakes in the mid-west, as far north as southern Canada. These breeding grounds are largely in areas just east of the rocky mountains including parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Utah, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and even down to parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Their migration route lands them in almost every state in the western United States. The avocet's wintering grounds are mainly coastal. Along the Atlantic Ocean, they are found in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. There are also wintering grounds along the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, Texas, and Mexico, and along the Pacific Ocean in California and Mexico. There are resident populations in the Mexican States of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Mexico City and Puebla, and in Central California."

While we do see them in Clark County, the most I've see is one or two...not 16!







Sunday, August 7, 2022

Ruddy Turnstones

 A couple of Ruddy Turnstones popped in for a few days at the CJ Brown beach. 
Such gorgeous birds!!!





Tuesday, July 12, 2022

American Avocet

 An American Avocet visited CJ Brown yesterday. 
I had seen on the Ohio Birds list that one was seen yesterday morning on the CJ Beach. I didn't think that it would still be there last night when I stopped to photograph the sunset, but there it was....
Not only did it stay all day, but it paraded back and forth in front of me in the amazing sunset light.
What a treat!!