Welcome back, Nighthawks - Arapahoe

[Jared Del Rosso]

Usually, I'll hear my first Common Nighthawk from my Centennial backyard by May 26 or so. A night or two later, I'll see one or more -- over my home, neighborhood, and the High Line Canal. Then, for about two weeks the birds will pass over my home, before disappearing for the summer.

This year, t took a little longer this year to encounter my first Nighthawk, but since June 3 I've heard or seen Nighthawks almost nightly. My favorite encounter, easily, was in the evening of June 14, when two flew over my house -- low, seeming to feed, but also headed northish. One of the birds was incredibly vocal and I heard a single boom, my first time hearing this in Colorado.

Last night, (6/16) I heard a single vocalization, but did not see the bird who gave it. This  ties the latest date I've seen or a heard a Nighthawk over my home in June.

Other observations, of the insectivore variety...

Last Sunday (6/12), I biked the High Line Canal and Little Dry Creek from about Colorado Blvd to deKoevend Park. I tallied five singing Cordilleran Flycatchers over a four or five mile stretch of the route. I intend to bike the route again to see how many are sticking around.

At Natural Grocers at University and Arapahoe, a Say's Phoebe's nest was overflowing with young last weekend. I stepped out of the store to see an adult phoebe perch on a sign and drop something. A fecal sac, it turned out on further investigation.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO