Pennsylvania Game News - August 2021 - 61

By Marcia Bonta
EARS AGO, I used to hear the nasal
peents of bullbats, also known
as common nighthawks, as they flew
over First Field at dusk on summer evenings.
Y
During
the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, we
heard or saw a few most years, and back
in July 1987, four nighthawks appeared
every evening, peenting and swooping
low in the company of a couple barn
swallows and bats.
My husband, Bruce, spotted four
nighthawks sifting the air over First
Field for insects on June 28, 1991. We
even noted the notched tails, white
wingbars and throats of these graybrown,
big-eyed, wide-mouthed birds.
Throughout the 1990s, we continued
to hear or see one to three common
nighthawks most years, but in this century
the only records we have of them
are of one calling on May 22, 2007, and
on June 8, 2020, when son Mark heard
a nighthawk early one morning, along
with calling whip-poor-wills.
A member of the nightjar family and
closely related to whip-poor-wills, the
name " nighthawk " was poorly chosen
because these birds are not hawks,
and they hunt at dawn and dusk, not
at night. Their name " bullbat " refers
both to the booming sound their wings
make during courtship flights and their
erratic, bat-like flying.
Even the " common " in their name
has become " uncommon " throughout
their continent-wide, breeding range in
North America, especially in the northeastern
United States and Canada.
According to the North American
Survey, from 1966Breeding
Bird
2014,
common nighthawks declined 61
percent throughout North America, and
the 2014 State of Birds Report labels
them a " common bird in steep decline. "
Greg Grove, who wrote the common
nighthawk account in
The Second
Atlas
of Breeding Birds
in Pennsylvania,
pointed out in
an email that
DISAPPEARING
Bullbats
NIGHTHAWKS IN DECLINE
AUGUST 2021
61

Pennsylvania Game News - August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - August 2021

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Pennsylvania Game News - August 2021 - 1
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Pennsylvania Game News - August 2021 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - August 2021 - Cover4
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