I was watching the bats flying around my yard last evening at dusk when suddenly a much larger bat momentarily joined in. At least, at first I thought it was a large bat... as it flew over my head I saw that it was a bird with very long, narrow, pointed wings and a moderately forked, long-ish tail. It swooped and changed direction very quickly and effortlessly -- the sighting lasted less than 10 seconds. By the time I fully realized I was looking at a bird, not a bat, it was gone -- so I hardly had a chance to get field marks. It was pretty dark, anyway. I did get the impression of a falcon-like bird, maybe a little larger than mourning dove size, but with longer, narrower wings. My googling to discover the identity of this bird leads me only to Common Nighthawk. I don't believe it was a Martin or any kind of swallow or swift (chimney swifts are very common in my area). I didn't notice any white wing patches, though — which usually are pretty evident, from my limited experience. It was about twice the size of the bats (likely little brown), which would put it at about 9 inches long with a wingspan around 20"-22". This sounds good for Common Nighthawk also. What other bird might display flight behavior similar to a feeding bat? Would a nighthawk be feeding very close to the ground? I did witness a nighthawk do a courtship display in the yard once several years ago, so I guess it wouldn't be unprecedented. Just unusual! Any thoughts appreciated. Karen Gray Copley ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]