Sounds of Night
Driving home on 19th before 8:30 p.m. last evening I saw a not small bird diving and soaring in front of the Senior Citizen's Center ... excuse me, the "Adult Activity Center" it is called now, which for some reason makes me think of illicit activities like card-playing, beer-drinking, spouse-swapping, and watching stag movies. The bird had a longitudinal white bar under each wing. Only this morning did I realize it was a Common Nighthawk.
Nighthawks I see when I see them from the lights of the car lots around me, though it takes a few minutes for eye and mind to adjust to spotting their darting flight at 100 to 200 feet overhead. (Early morning after daylight they may dart down to treetop and roof level, as that bird was doing on 19th St.)
I sleep with door and windows open in summer, my bedroom having an outside door opening to the street. Late summer and on into September I hear the flight calls of Common Nighthawks all night long. Don't notice them this early in the season.
No nighthawks, but all last night after maybe 3 a.m. until close to dawn some roosting birds made a churring sound grading off into high cackling notes interspersed with the call of doves. Nesting sounds? To reassure chicks or to declare territory? Snoring? Sure sounded like that. Do birds snore? Noisy neighbors.
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i always think of minor league baseball when i think of nighthawks; they're always in attendance at the night games
This time of year, through my open windows i hear the predawn chatter of the kingbirds. Thusly: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3499730
Same as yours?
Similar chittering notes. Could be something else too. Definitely have kingbirds in da hood. And since the post above I have been hearing nighthawks. Nighthawks like the insect feast attracted by bright night lights, from stadiums and car lots -- but does this mean their populations have increased thanks to bright lights?
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