Some of my favorite bird sightings are ones that I see without specifically going on a trip to find them. The chimney swift I saw when I was working my regular job. I was sitting a patient and took him out to the garden for some fresh air (in 95 degree weather, but they wanted to go - not me) and I look up to see a flock of birds flying waaaay above the hospital I work at. At first I thought it was ravens or starlings, but I heard them chittering in a way I havent heard before. It almost sounded like when a steel wire is under too much weight and snaps. So I record the sound and find out its a flock of chimney swifts!

Though I originally ID'd them by their call, they also have a distinct wing pattern that I could see from hundreds of feet below. It's a very irregular wing beating (maybe when they chirp?) followed by gliding for a long while. It is hard to put into words, but it was utterly distinct. Apparently these birds don't perch but hang on cliffs (and chimneys lol) like bats! their mouth resembles a nightjar to me, I bet if you look it up theyre related somehow.

There's nothing like an energetic little bird to brighten your day. Truly. On an incidental trip to my hometown, after what I will be calling the flooding incident, I happened upon this little hummingbird as it visited my mothers garden and nectar feeder. I haven't seen one of these little guys in a very long time, so it was really refreshing to see it hover for a bit and take my mind off things. I even got to make it some more food later that day! I think he was fueling up for migration because early August is around the time that they start heading south.

The one I saw was male - which are easy to distinguish from the irridescant red throat (obviously), though sometimes its hard to distinguish it if they are flying at a certain angle or are in bad lighting. I know their backs look green in pictures - but I really never see that coloring in real life for most birds. They look more buffy if anything... but then again I do tend to watch at a distance. I believe the one I observed came back multiple times (as opposed to it being different birds) because hummingbirds are very solitary creatures and very territorial - especially around feeders. One more fun fact for you: hummingbird's diet consists of both nectar and small insects, so a natural mosquito repellent is one more reason to attract them to your backyard!

Apparently, the best way to see one of these birds is to find some real bright lights (stadiums or street lamps) at dusk/early night and sit down and camp till you see them. I always thought this wasn't realistic because why would a nocturnal creature - that is very obviously concerned with camoflage, as you can see by looking at any image of a nightjar on the ground - be drawn towards these open places? Well, insects are aplenty!

As I was walking to the Braums with my sister one night I heard the very distinct "peent" call of a nighthawk, which I now am unable to ignore anytime I visit her place anytime near dusk. We sat down on on the curb of a random parking lot with very bright lamps to eat our ice cream. By the way, those new mexican flavors are pretty terrible. I was able to see it hunting in the light from below. It had a flapping pattern that reminded me of a bat and its wingspan was a lot wider that I thought it would be from the photos I have seen; I guess that is why its called a nighthawk. It's an easy id though because it has these white stripes near the tips of the underside of its wings.

Anyways, its very fun to see this little guy swoop down and grab a bug or whatever out if the air. I was reading about them and apparently they also do the diving motion to attract mates. I had a great time watching this little fella with an ice cream in my hand. Got covered in bugbites so bad though, so maybe that nighthawk wasnt doing its job well enough...