On 5/27/2016 8:43 PM, Ken Thompson wrote:
> At least 2 common nighthawks were calling & diving above the
> intersection of Broad Blvd & 2nd St, Cuyahoga Falls, 25 May ~7PM.
> Ken Thompson Silver Lake, OH

The decline in nighthawk numbers is being noticed everywhere. The fall 
flocks, formerly numerous, are especially pathetic in numbers. Here are 
remarks for central Ohio:
"Spring migrant flocks tend to number in the dozens at best, moving at 
higher altitudes than in fall.  Usually arrives by 5-10 May.  Very early 
local records come from 4/16/1899 (OSUM specimen #882), 4/18/2011 (fide 
M. Skinner) and 4/19/1985 (OC 8(1):23); Trautman (MS OSUM 5/6/1963) 
reported a “large flight” in Columbus 4/26/1963; judging by what he 
writes elsewhere (1940:281) this may have involved ~25 seen during the 
day.  The highest twilight counts of fall movements usually come from 
late August-early September, and include a description of circle-soaring 
by “at least several thousand” over the OSU campus 9/3/1968 (Mueller 
1970), 3000+ on 9/3/1976 (Thomson 1983:206), and ~2500 on 9/3/1992 (OC 
16(1):21). [[what's magic about 3 Sept?]] Later in fall, 224 migrants 
were observed over Clintonville 10/3/2006 (OC 30(1):20).  One entered 
the OSU campus’s main library on 10/22/1965 (WCB 11:46).  Late records 
were two in Columbus 11/5/2015 (OC 39(1):17) and one seen and heard 
calling on 11/20/1975 at High St. and Morse Rd. (J. Stahl, WCB 
1(20-21):42)."
        I recall eating a picnic lunch with my wife at a remote Ontario park 
one September 20 years or so ago, when the nighthawk migration was 
underway. Mosquitoes were thick, but so were the nighthawks, some of 
which swooped after bugs beneath our picnic table, even between our legs...
Bill Whan

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