I drove over to Cleveland Park in D.C.tonight to check on the Chimney Swifts
reported there last weekend.  By about 7:20-30, I found a fairly large
group  of Swifts swarming over the large apartment building at the
N.E.corner of Conn.Ave and Porter St. (Good views from the sidewalk by the
gas station across the street.)   The birds started going into the large
chimney on the roof about 7:40 (about 5 minutes before sunset) and continued
going in until I left abut 8:15, when only a few birds were left.  All
tolled, this was perhaps the largest single group of swifts I have ever
seen; there were at least 2,500 to 3,000 birds, and there could easily have
been 4,000 or more. A lot of birds. This is a busy urban corner with lots of
traffic and noise, but the birds were easy to see over the building in any
event.
 From there I drove downtown, parked by the Supreme Court building and
walked across to the East Plaza of the United States Capitol, where I  found
at least 40  Common Nighthawks swirling around in the lights on the Capitol
Dome.  They were not too high up and afforded good views., I stopped briefly
at the Air Force Memorial (on the hill over the Pentagon) on the way home,
where I found 8 -10 nighthawks in the lights there. But they were all very
high and difficult to find, even with binoculars.  Not a bad birding day at
all,especially with the lovely female Blackburnian warbler I saw in a
friend's yard about 10:30 this morning. I plan on re-checking the swifts and
the Capitol Nighthawks again tomorrow evening.
-- 
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Va.