NH Audubon manages 18 nightjar survey routes scattered across the state, most of which have been surveyed for 20 years. This year the volunteers who survey the route in Raymond are stepping down and I'm looking for a replacement.
The commitment is fairly small. The route consists of ten roadside point counts lasting for six minutes each, yielding a total survey time of roughly 1.5 hours (not counting travel to and from the route), and it only needs to be surveyed once a year. The big catch is timing, since surveys need to be done just after dusk (or well before dawn) and only within a week on either side of the full moon - and when it's not cloudy. These parameters mean that sometimes it's hard to get a survey in, but the good news in 2026 is that there are two date ranges: May 23 to June 8 and June 21 to July 7.
If you live in or near Raymond and are interested in helping out, please reply to me at <phunt...><mailto:<phunt...>. You don't even need to be a highly experienced birder, since whip-poor-wills make a very distinctive noise and not much else is that vocal at night.
Best,
Pam
Pamela D. Hunt, Ph.D.
Senior Biologist for Avian Conservation
NH Audubon
603-224-9909 x328 (office)
Voicemail gets forwarded to email so please leave a message so I know you called and can get back to you.
How are NH's birds doing? Check out our "State of the Birds" report at:
https://stateofthebirds.nhaudubon.org/ ___
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