Rick Simpson Birding Services

During a telephone conversation I discovered that two Short-tailed Nighthawks had been seen roosting in the town square last weekend.

Of course Elis and I lost no time in heading down there to check them out. On arrival we asked the taxi drivers (as directed by my friend) where the birds were, and we were shown. They turned out to be Lesser Nighthawks. Not rare by any means but it is always good to see them roosting and brush up on the ID criteria.

I got the scope out and showed the taxi drivers and any passer by silly enough to ask what we were doing and was able to explain to them why the ID they had been given was erroneous. They were able to see for themselves the comparative wing/tail length, and the white patches in both.

We stayed until dusk and watched them both fly off and also saw a third flying over shortly before they went.

Lesser Nighthawk.

Photo © Rick and Elis Simpson.