SuAsCo/Nashua Rivers & Beyond Nighthawk Survey
Site Announcements
The 2010 fall SuAsCo and Nashua River Valleys & Beyond Nighthawk Survey begins this year on Monday, August 9, and runs through the first ten days of September. The purpose of the survey is to collect key statistics on the continuing dramatic decline in Common Nighthawk migrants that began in the Boston and SuAsCo valley areas more than 100 years ago and has now spread across all of central and northern MA north to northern Canada.
For those who have never seen a nighthawk or would like to brush up on their nighthawk identification skills, a nighthawk briefing will be held from 7:30 to 9 pm on Tuesday, August 17 at the Sudbury Valley Trustees Wolbach Farm headquarters on Wolbach Road in Sudbury, MA. This briefing will address how to identify nighthawks, where and when to look for them, and how to report your observations. Then on a second evening shortly thereafter, participants will have the opportunity to get some hands-on field experience by joining a small field team led by an experienced nighthawk observer to look for nighthawks at one or more observation sites in the SuAsCo valley.
Full details on the briefing can be found here,
If you are interested in participating in the Nighthawk Survey and/or the briefing, please contact Hank Norwood at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Last Updated (Saturday, 24 July 2010 21:03)
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Photo by Bill Schmoker. Look here for other great photos by Bill. Contrary to its name, the Common Nighthawk is not a hawk or raptor at all but rather is a close relative of the Whip-poor-will and other Nightjars. Common Nighthawks are insect eaters and are often seen flying both gracefully and powerfully in circles with various species of swallows half to a third their size in search of flying ants and other flying insects. The vertical white stripe on the outer wing is diagnostic of nighthawks. For almost a hundred years populations of Common Nighthawks have been declining in the Northeast for reasons that are not entirely clear. See discussion of this trend in the “Main Menu” box to the left under “Nighthawk Sightings History”. Recently the rare bird committee in Canada where some 80% of all Common Nighthawks in the world now breed declared the Common Nighthawk a threatened species and similar action has recently been proposed in the US. The purpose of our SuAsCo/Nashua Rivers & Beyond Survey is to track the declines of migrating nighthawks in our survey area over time and to identify possible causes and remedial actions for these declines. Our survey area extends from the Blackstone River headwaters in central MA on the south to the Concord NH region on the north and the Connecticut River valley on the west to the SuAsCo valleys and southwestern ME on the east. The fall migration of Common Nighthawks in the survey area typically begins in early August and peaks in the last week of August or the first week of September, tailing off rapidly thereafter. The nighthawks are most commonly seen feeding over open fields, woods, lakes and rivers during late afternoons and evenings or while migrating southward at various altitudes in small flocks of a score or more (up to several hundred on occasion). The migrating flocks sometimes rest during part of the day, either on the ground or in trees in rough and rocky areas, and if left undisturbed, begin their journey towards evening, first filling their stomachs as they go. When the flocks are feeding, they do not always move southward, and indeed sometimes are observed moving in the opposite direction for reasons known only to the nighthawks. Survey participants decide what observation site(s) they would like to cover as well as when and how long they would like to spend at their site(s). Observers report their sightings and obtain the results of other observers via our state-of-the-art website which provides near real-time summaries of all sightings across our survey area. If you have questions about this survey or this website, or you are interested in participating in the survey, send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
