Unfortunately, the disappearance of a familiar group of nighthawks is 
nothing new. I've lost all three nest sites within earshot of my house 
over the past ten years. Back in 1882, Wheaton wrote of the nighthawk in 
this city as a "common summer resident, from May to September." He also 
states that "The eggs of the Nighthawk, like those of the Whippoorwill, 
are placed on the ground, with this distinction, that the Nighthawk 
seeks no shelter, but selects an open field or bare rock. No nest is 
constructed."
        Twenty years later Dawson, was to write “In Columbus it is a familiar 
feature, hawking fearlessly above High Street, and nesting, as in many 
other cities, upon the tarred and gravelled roofs of flat-topped 
buildings.”  At about that time, Bales, the prodigious amateur oologist, 
was collecting nighthawk eggs in rural Pickaway County just to the 
south, every one of them in empty corners of cornfields.
        Tar roofs with gravel ballast came into fashion, and are now well on 
the way out. Among the last holdouts here in town were school buildings, 
but nearly all their flat roof coverings have been replaced with rubber 
or plastic. Another local ornithologist, Hicks, wrote in 1935 that "At 
least a few pairs breed on the roofs of nearly every Ohio city having 
more than 5000 inhabitants. Absent in most municipalities of smaller 
size. Known as a summer resident in 117 cities of 74 counties. Not 
definitely known to nest on the ground except on limestone outcrops in 
the dry prairies of Adams, Erie, and Ottawa counties." I recall looking 
for nighthawks in Adams County during the last OBBA; we didn't find any 
out in the country.
        Other species like terns of several species, even razorbills, have 
adapted to gravel roofs along the Atlantic coast and Florida when their 
natural nesting areas were commandeered by humans. Their numbers are 
also falling as a result, and conservationists find themselves 
protecting aging shopping centers as bird habitat.
        It seems that local nighthawks established new nesting traditions over 
the past century or more, but that habitat is fast disappearing, and 
they are becoming much less common. Even where gravel roofs remain, 
their nests are vulnerable to predators that have increasingly moved 
into urban settings, such as raccoons and especially crows.
        The range map for this species covers most of North America, especially 
the wide open spaces of the western US and all of Canada; the population 
is down in the eastern US, where it has been relying on urban nest sites 
that artificially boosted their presence for those of us who live in 
cities. We still see large southward movements of nighthawks in the 
fall, sometimes in the thousands, but they are probably largely birds 
from Canada. So while their overall numbers may be down, they are still 
pretty numerous in areas where they don't get noticed as often, and 
these are also areas where they are less accurately counted.
Bill Whan
Columbus

Terri Martincic wrote:
> All,
> 
> Nighthawks are regular in Berea Ohio, often right over our small
> shopping area, block 40B4NW.  The OBBAII website doesn't show too
> many Nighthawks this time around: 
> http://bird.atlasing.org/Atlas/OH/Main?viewResults=1
> 
> In Berea we most often hear them in the early morning (7am), or at
> dusk (8-10 pm).
> 
> While driving on Rt 20 west of Norwalk (Huron County) a possible
> Common Nighthawk was heard in Monroeville, can anyone confirm the
> presence or absence of a Nighthawk there?  It's hard to be sure when
> heard from the car on the highway, block 38C4NW.
> 
> Where have all the Nighthawks gone?  If you've seen one this year I'd
> like to know when and where.
> 
> Peace, Terri Martincic
> 
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