At a block party in the Indian Spring section of Silver Spring, I watched 
two large flocks of nighthawks fly over this evening.  Both flocks kettled 
over about where Blair HS is, then used the altitude to move south over 
downtown Silver Spring.  At one point, I estimated the number of nighthawks 
in the first flock at around 175-200 birds, though this is a conservative 
estimate.  The second flock was not so large, but had at least 100 birds. A 
steady stream of stragglers passed over singly and in bunches of 3-15 birds 
for at least an hour.  I haven't seen this many nighthawks over Silver 
Spring in many, many years.  What an impressive sight!

Tom Stock
Silver Spring


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Hilton" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 4:10 PM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Nighthawks over Silver Spring and Takoma Park now


> Hi,
>
> Just 20 and 30 minutes ago, Lisa Shannon and I noted a
> lot of nighthawks coursing over Takoma Intermediate
> School, which is on Piney Branch Road between East
> West Highway and Dale Drive; it is the site of the
> Takoma Park Folk Festival.  At one point I saw at
> least 40 birds in the air at once.  I reckon there
> could be more than 50 or even 100 around, but 40 is
> what I am positive of.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Rob Hilton
> aimophila10
> Silver Spring
> yahoo.com
> Maryland
>
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