Ohio Birders,

I have a couple of questions in regards to Common Nighthawks.  I'm sure a
lot of this has already been discussed at some point, but I have apparently
missed those threads (my fault for not taking interest sooner.)

I have recently moved from Jefferson to Belmont County.  At my new location
I have a fantastic, hill-top, 360 degree view of the sky.  I have been
conducting my own Common Nighthawk surveys. My home-made surveys started out
as something I could add to my yard list, but I am getting more serious
about them now and think they could have some value to the birding
community.

Since Aug. 23 I have surveyed nine evenings.  I record general weather
conditions, the time at which each nighthawk passes, and the direction that
the nighthawks are traveling.  Is there anything else that I should be
recording?

Other than ebird, who else might be interested in obtaining the data that I
have collected?

The nighthawks that I see are moving in all directions.  A surprising number
of them are traveling from the south to the north.  Why is this?  Are they
more interested in feeding at that time of night?  Does topography or wind
direction have anything to do with it?

How late into September should I continue these surveys?

So far I have surveyed on 9 nights for over 6.5 hrs. and have seen 93
individual birds.

I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond.

Scott Albaugh

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