Went back to the stone bridge at Frank Melville Park in Setauket this evening for the third night out of the last four to look for nighthawks. Spent a little more than an hour there and saw 31 nighthawks overhead, although that may represent a slight overcount since the trees along the western edge of the pond blocked the ability to see movement clearly and birds I thought were new, undetected birds may have been birds that swung back around.
Like the report for Caumsett that Dave Klauber provided, the nighthawks at Melville were very high, some barely distinguishable although I was using 12X binoculars...... a very different experience from the other night when the birds were skimming over the pond surface. Arie Gilbert and his friend Bob (don't remember last name....) arrived toward the end of the watching period and saw a dozen or so of the birds....... Another wonderful night enjoying goatsuckers..... John Turner -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
