As a late follow-up to this, on August 20 (the night before this massive movement in Duluth) I counted 2800 nighthawks over an hour (7:10-8:10) just north of Tofte, all moving south, the day after estimating about 3700 moving north. Interestingly, in comparison to the massive movement in Duluth, there were no birds moving before this period and very few moving after it. There were no nighthawks seen during the same period on the 21st, when they hit Duluth.
I've eBirded both days here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14969522 and http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14962850 Good birding, Jesse Ellis On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 9:28 AM, Kim R Eckert <ecker...@gmail.com> wrote: > Other than the mention of it on yesterday's Duluth RBA, nothing has been > posted on mou-net about the very strong movement of Common Nighthawks > through Duluth on 21 August. As mentioned on the RBA, the day's total was > over 30,800, and I understand the exact total was 30,874. These were all > counted by Karl Bardon from sunrise to sunset (despite an afternoon high of > 88 degrees) from two sites: the main overlook at Hawk Ridge and the corner > of 60th Ave East & Superior St. > > There was also a total of 5,176 nighthawks counted the same day during 1.5 > hours (5:40-6:10 pm and 7:15-8:15 pm) from the pedestrian bridge over I-35 > behind the London Rd Perkins restaurant at 25th Ave East. However, it is > presumed that most or perhaps all of these would be individuals seen by > Karl and included in his total. > > This represents the second-highest total of Com Nighthawks ever documented > in Minnesota. The largest flight recorded was 43,690 individuals counted on > 26 August 1990 from the Lakewood Pumping Station in Duluth (see The Loon > 63:68-69). Note, however, that this count was only during a 2.75-hour > period, from 5:35 to 8:20 pm, and it is not known how many hundreds or > thousands more had passed through earlier that day. > > All these numbers and comparisons aside, though, Karl is certainly to be > commended for enduring the nearly 90-degree heat on the 21st to document > this significant flight! > > > Kim R Eckert > ecker...@gmail.com > http://www.mbwbirds.com > > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > -- Jesse Ellis Post-doctoral Researcher Dept. of Integrative and Comparative Biology, UCLA ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
