[birding] Nighthawks and a swift

[Joel Geier]

Hi folks,

Two species that have been scarce around our immediate neighborhood this
summer finally made an appearance.

First, last evening my daughter Martha & I were out for a semi-bike ride
around E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area (she rode bike, I walked the dog).
Along with hundreds of BARN SWALLOWS and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, some of
which were feeding *very* low over the prairie restorations to the point
that they were almost down in the grasses, we spotted a single VAUX'S
SWIFT winging near headquarters. It was the first one that I've seen
around the Camp Adair neighborhood, since four flew over our place on
May 9th.

Then this morning as I was going out to get the paper at 5 AM, I heard
two COMMON NIGHTHAWKS calling to each other. One sounded like it was a
bit to the east, over E.E. Wilson and the other was a bit to the NW,
over the north end of Tampico Ridge or maybe over Coffin Butte landfill.
I had nearly given up on finding any within "motorless" range of our
place this summer.

Last evening we also heard a few SWAINSON'S THRUSHES giving call notes
at dusk, so they're still around even though we haven't heard much of
them lately.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis