Last Friday a small group of birders went to the old church just east of Galena, Ohio to watch a spectacle and count Chimney Swifts. What a show we had. We observed about 2500 swifts swirl and enter the old church chimney then counted close to 50 Common Nighthawks moving across the sky along with about 25 or so large Brown Bats that were coming out of the church. Several V's of Canada Geese flew over and we chuckled over their vocalizations. There is a nice parking lot to observe from and I suggest you take the time to stop by and see the swifts in action. Location: Galena United Methodist Church 43021, located at 108 Harrison Street in Galena. The church has a large, two-story chimney that measures 48" x 78" on the outside and is no longer in use. Sunday eve I had to visit Sells Middle School in Dublin Ohio for a preview to our program their on Sept 9. There were 800 to over a 1000 Chimney Swifts with the majority of them entering the school chimney between 8:15 and 8:20pm. I saw one bat go across the parking lot. This coming Friday Sept 9 at 7:15pm, Columbus Audubon and the Ohio Young Birders Club central Ohio will come together to count birds and post their results on the Driftwood Wildlife Association website. Please visit the Columbus Audubon website to learn more details on our calendar for field trips or follow this link to learn more about the swift count and do one in your area and submit the data. www.columbusaudubon.org http://secure.campaigner.com/Campaigner/Public/t.show?N0wi--9QB2-gkbHw4 Darlene Sillick Powell, Ohio Columbus Audubon, Program and Field Trip Coordinator and OYBC co-advisor -----Original Message----- From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of =?windows-1252?Q?Kirt_Beiling?= Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2011 10:15 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [Ohio-birds] I too have seen the Columbus Nighthawks It was Amazing!!! It was dusk last Friday. At first I thought I saw a Cooper Hawk...But, wait...there he is again...and again...wait...there's 6 of them...no...a dozen...wait...they are everywhere. Chimney Swifts? No...too big...and they don't flap their wings. Purple Martin?...nope...tail is too long. Noticed the white band under the wings. Rushed to my newly purchased "Crossley ID Guide" and without a doubt, there it was. "Common Nighthawk" My neighborhood (same, general, location of the other posters) was being bombarded by a large flock(?) of Common Nighthawks. Very, very, "cool" to watch. ______________________________________________________________________ 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] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]